Steam adds official Switch Joy-Con support

The latest Steam client beta added official support for Nintendo Joy-Con controllers, making it much easier to use Switch-style controls with your PC games.

On August 4, a beta update to the Steam client (opens in a new tab) has gone live with two changes, the most significant of which is: “Added support for Nintendo Joy-Con controllers, both individually as a mini gamepad and combined in pairs.” The update also notes that classic Nintendo Online controllers now have “enhanced support.”

It usually takes between a few weeks and a month for a beta update to go live on the main Steam client, so you can expect the feature to be available to everyone pretty soon.

On July 27, Steam added official support (opens in a new tab) for classic Nintendo Online controllers – modern Bluetooth controllers made in the form of NES, SNES, Genesis/Mega Drive and N64 gamepads that Nintendo sells directly through its own store. Yes, now with official support for N64 controllers and Joy-Cons, Steam finally supports all of Nintendo’s worst controllers. Well, except for the Power Glove, I guess.

Steam has supported the Switch Pro controller for years (opens in a new tab), and while I’m not personally a fan of Joy-Cons (even when I don’t suffer from Joy-Con drift), it’s good to see more and more console controllers getting direct support for Steam Input. Valve has finally given us the dreamland where our DualSenses, Joy-Cons and Xbox pads can live in harmony.

Check out our guide to best pc controller for gaming for a complete view of all your game options.