PC Gaming

All depends on the game. PC players have options.

Really depends on the games.

Well, yeah. Racing games, platformers, and action games are generally more comfortable with controller. Third person shooters, FPS, anything that requires aiming, or RTS games are still best done with mouse.

Steam Deck and the console users that pivoted to PC gaming during the scalpers riddled PS5/Xbox launch are probably the most likely causes for this.

Usage triples <-> 15 % increase

Pick one. Triple is 300 % increase. Article says 15 % is the proportion using them, not the increase.

for certain games controllers are so comfy, I've had a controller next to my desk for years for times I want to play something more casual that supports controllers.

I think it's most likely that more people are playing genres like platformers and fighting games that are designed for controllers on PC than before.

It's not that PC gamers were opposed to using controllers. PC gamers love our peripherals. The problem was support for it. Most of the controllers beforehand had proprietary connectors that would never work in the PC. And then even if you could connect the controller there was no guarantee it would work. But now with more standardization around USB and Bluetooth adding and better driver support for the controllers we can finally use them.

Games need to support it well with remapping and better UI and ways to control that make sense.

Other than soulslikes I pretty much always prefer mouse+KB. Playing bg3 with a controller briefly during a co-op run was just way worse, for example.

I have to wonder what percentage of folks are using handheld gaming PCs like the Steam Deck or ROG Ally. Personally I've found that I game much more now that I have a Steam Deck and can mindlessly play stuff like Dave the Diver while relaxing on the couch with my SO, versus setting aside specific "gaming time" to be at my desk.

I don't understand controllers. I can never get to use them properly. I grew up playing on computers all my life. My brain simply can't grasp them and I always forget where all the buttons are.

I hate controllers. I use them only on games that suggest they are important. I don't tend to like those games.

I said this for years but PC is the biggest thread for the Xbox and Sony, not mobile.

Doesn’t help that plenty of games have stripped down controls that don’t allow you to change keybinds because they’re built for controllers. I don’t know if embracing is the right word.

Edit: I’ll also offer that devices like the Xim look like controllers, but still allow use of mouse and keyboard.

As others have said, it really depends on the game. But I would say >90% of my PC gaming is done with a controller. I've just become so adapted to them, that the keyboard and mouse just feels foreign now. Even with FPS, most of the time I use a controller. I'm aware of the advantages of using a mouse obviously, but again I'm just conditioned to it now.

I must be going the opposite route. After playing console for so long I'm starting to notice I can't use a controller as well as I used to. Been debating on dusting off the keyboard and mouse and using it on my Playstation until I can get a new pc.

I'm not sure what it is... but I guarantee if I played online other people would wonder if I was a bot or something because I my hands feel weird on a controller all of a sudden.

How much of that is console players switching to pc

Big picture mode is great.

For me, it's linked with the amount of "local multiplayer" titles on Steam. There was fucking nothing! Ok, we could play nes or sega games, but it was strange to not have a lot of modern games. Thankfully, it's slowly changing

I believe many users are going controller over mnk is because these game devs are making it extremely easy to aim using controller, which does not make it a fair fight against mnk players.