All my Xbox360 controllers still work fine, but none of my PS3’ Dualshock 3s.

An important thing to note is that the Steam Controller will be user-serviceable and they want to continue their partnership with ifixit

Why is that important

Because it means you can probably swap your battery with a single screw or two.

I’m not doing that on a regular basis. I can swap the battery in my Xbox controller without any screws.

Not downvoting you, but you’re not being reasonable. Serviceable means actually serviceable. It might be “better” to use AA batteries but if they can’t, the next best thing would be that it can be serviced by the actual end consumer. And yeah if you’re planning on fixing your own things you may need to own a screwdriver.

I don’t think you understand. I’m not talking about service. I’m talking about normal use. I swap the batteries on my current controller every few days. It’s not unreasonable to expect modern controllers to have the same functionality they had 20 years ago…

Except that you don’t have to swap the batteries on a built-in rechargeable battery every few days. You plug it in when you aren’t using it, and swap the batteries every few years when they stop holding a charge. I guarantee you the time spent swapping AAs every few days will far outweigh the time you spend using a screw driver to replace this battery at the frequency it requires.

You plug it in when you aren’t using it

That requires

Having a cable nearby

Being tethered to said cable for an hour.

I don’t have a charging station in my couch.

I guarantee you the time spent swapping AAs every few days will far outweigh the time you spend using a screw driver to replace this battery at the frequency it requires.

I guarantee you it doesn’t. Not to mention those screws would become stripped in a matter of weeks.

Man is gaming 24/7 and has zero downtime where he could plug in a controller. That’s dedication right there /s

We’ve already been over this. I don’t want to be tethered to a cable.

Every controller I own (dual shocks, dual senses, 8bitdo’s, switch pros) lasts me an entire day of gaming at least. Plug them in at night and you’re good.

I suppose your phone has never died because you forgot to or didn’t have time to plug it in? It’s just yet another device that I have to worry about managing the battery.

Maybe once a year? Plugging a cable in for 20 min isn’t asking a lot.

It doesn’t matter if it’s “asking a lot” or not, I just don’t want to do it. I don’t want to worry about it. It’s not my preference.

What’s the alternative for phones? My last phone had about 2-3 days battery life and I ran into this issue more frequently because I didn’t need to have a routine. My current phone lasts about a day and a half, so my routine is to charge at night, but if I forget, I charge in the morning or at work.

In the old days with easy to swap batteries, I never brought a spare with me because that required more planning than charging at night. In the old old days of flip and candybar phones, they lasted a week, so recharging wasn’t a big deal.

The controller situation is different. I have both an Xbox 360 and a DS4, and the DS4 is less fussy. Why? I only need to charge it like once a week given how much I play, so it’s more like the old flip phone.