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Earlier this month, SteelSeries started accepting pre-orders for its Stratus gaming controller, one of several new MFi-certified controllers debuting with $99.99 price tags. As announced by SteelSeries today, the Stratus is now available and arrives with a lower price of $79.99.
The new pricing will be honored for all pre-order customers, although Apple's online store is still showing the higher pricing.
"The media and consumer reaction to the announcement of the Stratus Controller at CES really demonstrated the power behind this product, and the new category of gaming we can enable by working together with Apple," said Bruce Hawver, SteelSeries CEO. "More than ever, we see the power of this platform and we want to make every effort to make it accessible to as many consumers as possible. We have therefore worked closely with our retail partners and suppliers with the objective of lowering the retail price target without changing any of the terrific features of this product."
Unlike competing controllers from Logitech and MOGA, the Stratus from SteelSeries uses Bluetooth instead of the Lightning port to connect to an iOS device. It features a console-like design with a directional pad, two analog sticks and four front buttons.
Eli Hodapp from our sister site TouchArcade was able to get some hands-on time with the Stratus and offered a detailed review evaluating the controller's performance in light of its competition. Though it loses points for its high price tag and small size, TouchArcade considered the SteelSeries Stratus to be "the best controller out there" for gadget addicts and early adopters, although users willing to jailbreak their devices may prefer a new tweak adding support for PlayStation 3 controllers.
Top Rated Comments
Price of a PS4 controller is $59.99. It shouldn't exceed that as its almost guaranteed to perform worse.
$20 off is a start. Keep going :)
Try a price tag no higher than $55 max.
I do wonder if this will work with a Mac at all. That would be the bees knees. It's Bluetooth, so I don't see why not. Their website doesn't indicate if it does at all, and actually seems to say it doesn't. *rubs chin*
The problem is they have been accepting pre-orders for almost a month now at $99.99 (one cent shy of their free shipping limit so you end up paying another $9 to have it shipped, which is a whole new level of BS). They haven't shipped out any pre-orders so they should be refunding everyone who pre-ordered the $20 Right? We will see.
That is BS with the shipping price. Well I can't say that this isn't good news though. I definitely welcome the $20 price drop. But I think I'll wait first for the Apple store to drop it to $20 before making a decision to purchase. I can also get a small employee discount to counter sales tax.
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Wake me up when is $9.99 on a fire sale.
Wow, How do these people even end up with Apple products to begin with? Perhaps a hand me down iPhone or something?
Follow up to my previous response: the FAQ on SteelSeries' website specifically says that it's not compatible with the Mac. Given the way Apple has positioned the MFi controller API, it really should work on Mavericks, so I'd be willing to bet on it working down the line.
Though it is possible that there will be a separate Mac version, that just simply doesn't make sense, too fragmented. Apple doesn't make iOS-only bluetooth keyboards or AirPlay devices. While it's obvious Lightning connector controllers won't work, it makes sense for the bluetooth ones to work.[COLOR="#808080"]
Aye, after reading into Mavericks API documentation at Apple a bit, it looks like it fully supports MFI controllers. My guess is it would have to wait for game debs to use that API in their Mac games before the controller would work.