Valve reveals 2018's most controller-friendly Steam games

Valve's end-of-year lists just keep on coming: it has followed up its round-up of the 100 best-selling Steam games with a post on the most controller-friendly games in 2018, broken down by controller type.

For each device—Xbox, PlayStation, Switch Pro or Steam controller—it lists the 50 games that were played most with that controller, the games that were uniquely popular with each controller type, and the games that used each controller most in local multiplayer.

Lots of players are using a PlayStation controller to play PUBG, judging by its top 50. Rainbow Six Siege also ranks highly for both PlayStation and Xbox controllers, suggesting some players are willing to sacrifice aim for the comfort of, presumably, playing on a sofa with the game running on their TV. Or maybe they're just better with a controller—who knows? Other than that, the top games are what you'd expect. You'll find a mixture of platformers, sports games, fighting games, RPGs and action games. You can find all the links in this Steam post.

The unique games for each controller—those favored specifically by players with one controller over another—are more interesting. PlayStation controllers are the device of choice for fighting games, with Soulcalibur 6, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle and Street Fighter 5 making the list.

Xbox controller owners are particularly fond of open-world games, with the likes of Just Cause 3, Saints Row 4, Skyrim and Mafia 3 among the list of games that are most unique to the device. Switch Pro controller fans like A Hat in Time, The Messenger and Monster Hunter: World, while Steam controller users are taking advantage of its dual trackpads, favoring strategy games such as Stellaris, Civilisation 6 and BattleTech.

Valve reckons these preferences point to both a difference in demographics between owners of the respective controllers and a differing level of support for specific controllers between games.

Lastly, couch multiplayer fans might want to cast their eye over the lists of games played most with two controllers on one PC. It's full of fun party games such as Gang Beasts and Ultimate Chicken Horse. I'm pleased to see Divinity: Original Sin 2 popular across all controllers, too: it's not the first game that springs to mind when I think of local multiplayer, but its RPG campaign is brilliant when played co-op, so it makes sense.

Once again, you can find links to all the lists here. They're worth browsing if you like playing with a controller and you're looking for new compatible games.

Samuel is a freelance journalist and editor who first wrote for PC Gamer nearly a decade ago. Since then he's had stints as a VR specialist, mouse reviewer, and previewer of promising indie games, and is now regularly writing about Fortnite. What he loves most is longer form, interview-led reporting, whether that's Ken Levine on the one phone call that saved his studio, Tim Schafer on a milkman joke that inspired Psychonauts' best level, or historians on what Anno 1800 gets wrong about colonialism. He's based in London.