Valve’s ‘Roy’ controllers from the Fashions series of the Deckard prototype have been discovered in SteamVR driver records, shedding light on their design and functionality.
References to Valve’s ‘Roy’ controllers were initially discovered earlier this month by the SteamVR dataminer community, specifically within a Discord group led by XR enthusiast Brad Lynch. The code revealed that the controllers would arrive equipped with bumpers and a directional pad, allowing them to seamlessly function as a gamepad for flat-screen gaming.
The identical group has unveiled 3D designs of Roy, providing insight into its overall structure while verifying the presence of bumpers, a D-pad, alongside thumbsticks, buttons, index triggers, grip triggers, and system controls.
The reference to Roy Batty, the iconic replicant leader in Blade Runner, aligns seamlessly with the codename Deckard, hinting at a narrative connection between the two characters and their roles in the film.
Design and manufacture of production-grade molds for Roy controller variants starting with the initial EV1 iteration.
— Brad Lynch (@SadlyItsBradley)
The latest iteration of the Roy controller boasts a sleek, ringless design, yet intrepid data sleuths have uncovered earlier models featuring ringed designs eerily reminiscent of the original Oculus Quest controllers. The origins of these designs appear to date back to a 2022 Valve patent filing.
After nearly a decade-long wait since the Index’s release, Valve is reportedly on the cusp of unveiling its long-anticipated next-generation VR headset. Deckard will likely don a sleek, futuristic visor to enhance his cyberpunk experience.
The design of the Roy controller, combined with a 2022 Valve job, suggests that the system could utilize PC vision monitoring from onboard cameras, thereby reducing costs and eliminating the need for base stations? The controller’s incorporation of bumpers and a D-pad implies significant potential for handling 2D Steam games efficiently on flat-screen displays. In November last year, Valve strongly hinted that the headset would enable wireless streaming of Steam content from your PC, a feature previously suggested by datamining.
Will Deckard become the flagship product for couples seeking immersive experiences, as Index was for Valve’s early adopters, or instead position itself as a fiercely competitive alternative to Meta’s Quest VR headsets at an affordable price point? Given that Steam Link already enables wireless VR gaming on Quest devices at no additional cost, it seems increasingly likely that this will happen. With the Steam Deck’s successful launch, Valve demonstrates its willingness to explore opportunities in sponsored hardware, should the need arise again.
Steam now provides hyperlinks for quest objectives in their hand monitoring feature. This change aims to streamline the gaming experience and enhance player engagement by offering a more intuitive way to track quest progress. With this update, players can easily access relevant quest information from the Steam overlay while playing games that support Steam’s hand tracking technology.
With Steam’s latest update, the Hyperlink feature enables seamless quest hand tracking, forwarding it to compatible PC VR apps such as VRChat and Maestro for enhanced immersion.
As we move forward, we’ll keep a close watch on the SteamVR community of dataminers over the next few months to uncover any clues about Valve’s future plans.
