Steam Controller owners be warned, the puck can be a fire hazard

The widely successful Steam Controller has been reaching customers, and feedback has been quite positive. It comes with a puck that enables a wireless 2.4 GHz connection with the controller, as well as magnetically attaches to the controller for charging. This design, as a Reddit user unfortunately found out, can lead to some unexpected safety issues.

A user named ‘Toikka’ shared a PSA on the SteamController subreddit about an unfortunate incident with the Steam Controller puck. No one was hurt, and damage was minimal, but the user found that if the exposed pins of the puck come in contact with a piece of metal, they can short-circuit and start sizzling, potentially causing a fire. The metal piece in this situation was a watch strap for the user’s Pixel Watch 3.

While the smartwatch was on its own charger, it accidentally came in contact with the puck and started heating up. This left minor burn marks on the strap and the puck itself. Fortunately, the user realized in time, and neither of the devices suffered any functional damage.

Toikka also shared that the Steam Hardware team is investigating the issue, with the “items” being shipped to the team soon. The user will also be getting a replacement puck from Valve.

While this is an isolated incident and the chances of it happening to others are low, it should serve as a cautionary tale. Some commenters are of the opinion that this is a design flaw on Valve’s side, as the incident suggests the pins are always live. There could be a firmware update to address this issue at some point, but we’ll have to wait for Valve to complete its investigation.