Valve’s newly released Steam Controller has been on sale for less than a month when a Reddit user reported a dangerous fault in its charging puck. The puck’s pogo pins are left exposed, and when the user’s Google Pixel Watch 3 metal band brushed against them, the contacts melted and produced a sizzling short circuit that nearly sparked a fire.

Valve’s support team has responded, saying hardware engineers are investigating and have asked the poster to return the damaged puck for a replacement. The company’s official manual already warns users to keep metallic objects away from the charger, citing magnetic attraction risks, but it stops short of guaranteeing protection against a short circuit, leaving consumers to question safety expectations for a $99 device.

Industry observers note that exposing power contacts on a premium accessory is atypical, especially when competitors bundle protection circuitry into similar docks. If Valve does not redesign the puck, the incident could pressure the firm still to issue a firmware handshake or a hardware revision, lest the episode erodes confidence in the Steam Controller’s overall reliability today.