Steam’s Support For The DualShock 4 Is Here, In Beta Form

Remember earlier this month how Steam was going to get a patch that basically meant the DualShock 4 would be treated and as fully supported as the Steam controller?

Well, it’s out. In beta form, at least.

An update has been rolled out to the beta branch for Steam, with the notes saying that “PS4 Dual Shock Controller” support has been added to the Steam Configurator. “When enabled, PS4 controllers will have access to the same sort of customisation/configuration support as Steam Controllers, including native API support.”

Huge. It’s still in beta, so there are probably a few quirks to sort out, but it’s still huge. We’re talking the ability to map the gyro and trackpad on the PS4 to mouse controls. Native support for the DS4. No more third-party drivers.

Here’s the full list of patch notes relating to the controller:

Added Steam Configurator support for PS4 Dual Shock Controller. Note that this is a beta release. Enable in Big Picture settings Add/Test Controller settings. When enabled, PS4 controllers will have access to the same sort of customization/configuration support as Steam Controllers, including native API support.
PS4 Controllers using this system can map the trackpad, gyro, buttons, etc. to keyboard, mouse, or x-input outputs and can make use of action sets, touch menus, radial menus, and so forth.
Added New Mode – Joystick Mouse. This is a joystick based mouse control useful for stick based controllers.
Added default PS4 templates.
Added software calibration for non-Steam controller based IMUs to counter for gyro drift.
Configuration Browser can now be toggled to show all available controller types rather than the default of the in-use controller type.
Configurations can now be marked as “Unique” to a specific controller. This configuration will only be applied to that controller for that user’s account. By default, all controllers of a specific type will share a configuration unless marked as Unique.
Big Picture now supports PS4 controller glyphs when using Steam Configurator support.

The patch also adds streaming options for games in 4K, as well as a n newer version of the Steam web control, and a change to automatically restart Steam if it crashes while a game is streaming.

You can get the beta branch of Steam by going to Settings, the Account tab, and then clicking on the “Change” button where it says “Beta participation”. Your Steam will then ask you to restart, after which point you’ll get the update.

From there, pop into Big Picture mode and hit the Add/Test button under the Controller section. Steam will automatically detect that you’ve got a DS4 connected — whether you’ve synced it via Bluetooth, or connected via USB — and then you can add the controller and register it to your Steam account, so your DS4 profiles follow you wherever you go.

Pretty neat.