Goat Simulator 3 Devs Tell Players to “Use Steam” as a Response to Lack of Native Controller Support on Epic Games Store

To be frank, Epic Games Store exclusivity has brought upon more problems than solved. For instance, it’s yet ANOTHER launcher, and storefront PC users will have to sit back and manage as if we don’t have a bunch of them already (Steam, Rockstar, Origin, Battle.net, to name some). Then comes missing features, such as a lack of native controller support, which is even more of a joke.

This brings us to Goat Simulator 3, which was made an Epic Games Store exclusive from the outset. Forget about the fact that it lacks controller support, a feature the previous entry had on Steam, for just a second; the solution to fix this directly involves using Steam, as this NeoGAF thread entails.

In perhaps a baffling set of decisions, a bot on the Goat Simulator mentions that the Epic Games Store client doesn’t have native controller support. Thus, players have to take the following convoluted process to attempt to play their PC copy of Goat Simulator 3 with a controller:

• Add the Epic client as a “Non-Steam Game” over on Steam.
• Insert your controller of choice
• Ensure Steam recognizes the device in its Controller Settings menu.
• Launch the Epic Games Store from within Steam.
• Launch Goat Simulator 3.

I’ll be blunt: If this is the type of thing that players need to do to simply use controllers, then why are games that can be played with a controller being sent to Epic, a place that doesn’t support controllers easily, if at all? You could just, you know, release the game on Steam, which has native controller drivers and support for tons of controllers. If users have to capitulate with the EGS, then at least the developers could demand proper native controller support.

Either way, if you choose to purchase Goat Simulator 3 on the Epic Games Store, that’s the convoluted process you have to undertake if playing on a mouse and keyboard isn’t something you’re keen on doing. We’ll continue to update as more information on Goat Simulator 3 is released.

Goat Simulator 3 is out now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via the Epic Games Store.