The Steam Controller Wilhelm Scream Easter Egg Is Incredible

Thanks to Reddit, one of the best little secrets of the Valve Steam Controller has been discovered. Now I can’t stop dropping it, because it turns out it makes a Wilhelm scream if it does. I tested it, and can confirm. You don’t even need the controller paired to anything to make it happen.

Throughout my several-week review of Valve’s new game controller, I never knew that it made the infamous Wilhelm scream, a stock sound effect that has been used in hundreds of movies, when dropped. How would I know it did that? I don’t drop controllers. Or I don’t intend to. 

But that’s exactly what the controller does when dropped even lightly on any surface. I picked up and dropped the controller a bunch of times onto my sofa, from about 3 feet, and that iconic scream that my kids love happened. Check out the video below.

The scream is randomized: It’s not about how hard you drop it, so don’t do that. A harder accidental fall onto the floor produced no scream. Two straight drops made screams. Then none for a bunch after that. That’s the fun of it.

Apparently, the scream is happening via the motor haptics in the controller, which act as a speaker. Or, is it a speaker? It sounds really good, it’s stunning.

The effect occurs even if the Steam Controller isn’t paired to anything. I just turned the controller on, and while it was cycling for Bluetooth pairing, it still made the drop screams, no Steam Deck or PC on or nearby.

I don’t generally recommend dropping $99 game controllers, but this Easter egg is so amazing that I want all game controllers to make little noises now. What if Joy-Cons made Mario sounds? PlayStation DualSense made AstroBot chirps?

I already loved the Steam Controller. I love it even more now.