The Steam Controller will scream if you drop it, and I don’t know how to feel about it

Valve’s new Steam Controller has a hidden Easter egg that makes it scream when dropped, which is funny until you remember it costs $99. Users have been sharing clips of the controller playing the iconic Wilhelm scream after being dropped from around three feet while in Big Picture Mode. It does not trigger every time, with one widely shared post claiming it happens roughly once every five or six drops.

How does the Steam Controller scream without a speaker?

The strange part is that the Steam Controller does not need a built-in speaker for this trick. According to reports, it recreates the scream using its haptic motors, which vibrate in specific patterns to mimic the sound. That makes the Easter egg even more absurd, because the controller is basically panicking through vibrations.

The scream itself is not random either. It is the Wilhelm scream, one of Hollywood’s most famous stock sound effects. It was first used in the 1951 film Distant Drums and later became an inside joke among filmmakers and sound designers. Over the years, it has appeared in films such as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Toy Story, Reservoir Dogs, and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

Is Valve accidentally encouraging controller abuse?

If Valve meant this as a playful reminder to be careful with the controller, the internet has taken it in the most predictable direction possible. Netizens on X (formerly Twitter) have been uploading clips of themselves tossing, dropping, and testing their controllers just to trigger the scream. While these clips are funny, they are also a little painful, because this is still a $99 controller that is already out of stock at retail. A significant number of units are already being scalped on resale platforms like eBay at heavy markups, while Valve has opened a reservation queue to manage demand and push back against resellers.

The comedic timing has obvious potential, especially if the scream lands at the perfect moment. Imagine losing repeatedly to a spammy boss, tossing the controller aside in frustration, and then hearing it let out the Wilhelm scream like it was the one that took the damage. For me, that would probably happen after another miserable run against the Watcher Knights in Hollow Knight. That would make for a great clip, especially if the timing is perfect. I’m just not sure I could enjoy it with my own controller. The second a $100 gamepad screams after hitting the floor, I’m apologizing to it.