Every outlet that you are seeing run a headline about the Steam Controller being in someway 'controversial' or 'has a problem' or 'may be divisive' ...
I contend that this is an anti-marketing campaign, being run by basically, potentially, the entire AAA gaming industry that isn't Valve.
Nearly every major AAA game company is currently imploding right now.
Except Valve.
Because Valve is privately held and owned, it doesn't have a board of investors to answer to, to constantly juice next quarter profits for.
It doesn't have a gaggle of people who sit on multiple corporate boards simultaneously, who sit on the boards of industry lobbying groups, who sit on the boards of astroturfed 'consumer rights' groups.
These people all know each other, or in some cases literally are the same people.
I of course cannot prove this conclusively, but just... look around.
This is nuts, the number of media outlets going with a non positive angle, in the headline... of a product launch.
Also consider that many of Valve's direct competition has extensive, direct ties to the AI bubble insano-mania, both hardware and software companies.
... Its not normal to have so many different outlets have such a standardized general framing of ... a video game controller launch.
This is what a retired ex corpo ex MSFT employee such as myself would describe as sus.