Valve's Steam Deck Latest Device to be Targeted by Company Known for Patent Lawsuits

Immersion Corporation has filed a lawsuit against Valve over rumble haptic technology found in the Steam Deck and Valve Index, The Verge reports.

The outlet notes that Immersion filed its complaint in the Western District of Washington, citing seven patents dating back to as early as 2002. The company is accusing Valve of infringing its own patents in the company's hardware devices, the Steam Deck and Valve Index. Though the complaint also cites several video games that use the technology, including Half-Life: Alyx, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

Immersion has a history of suing companies it claims have infringed on its rumble tech patents. Both Microsft and Sony have been in legal bouts with Immersion before over the rumble technology, with both companies licensing tech from Immersion's patent portfolio. Immersion is also suing Meta over the same accusations of patent infringement, with the lawsuit filed nearly a year ago.

Immersion seeks damages, royalties, plus an injunction against Valve “from deploying, operating, maintaining, testing, and using the Accused Handheld Instrumentalities and Accused VR Instrumentalities."

In our review of the Steam Deck, we noted that although there we some "major caveats," such as a noisy fan and long loading times, we still recommend the device.