Xbox One Elite controller now works on Steam Machines and Steam Link

One of the best gaming controllers we’ve ever used now works with some hardware that hasn’t convinced us that it’s useful yet.

The $150 Xbox One Elite is an excellent device, but it wasn’t compatible with Valve’s SteamOS (it only worked with Windows PCs and Xbox One). That has changed now, and — as long as you have the Elite plugged in with a USB cable — it’ll function with both a Steam Machine or the Steam Link. Valve is the company that owns and operates the Steam digital-distribution portal for PC game, and SteamOS is its Linux-based operating system for gaming. Valve has updated that OS to version 2.60, and that included the proper drivers to run the Elite joypad.

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We tried it out, and the Elite works exactly like you would expect. You can still use the back paddles to replace pressing face buttons or clicking the analog sticks in. You can edit your Elite’s profile on the Xbox One or Xbox app on your PC and then bring that over to your SteamOS box.

And having support for the Elite makes the Steam Link and Steam Machines a bit more functional.

It’s still a bummer that you can’t plug a wireless dongle into the Steam Machine or the Steam Link to connect the Elite (or any Xbox One controller) wirelessly. But that has nothing to do with Valve or SteamOS. Microsoft controls what that dongle will work with, and Valve explained to GamesBeat that it has no idea whether Microsoft will ever support the SteamOS or Linux. Microsoft said, for now, it is focusing on Windows. The company did expand support from Windows 10 only to Windows 7 and 8 in December.