Valve will send a replacement magnetic charging puck to a Steam Controller owner who reported that the accessory short-circuited and nearly started a fire after coming into contact with a metal watch strap. The company's hardware team also asked to receive the affected items in order to reproduce the issue.

The Steam Controller ships with a magnetic charging puck that attaches to the back of the controller and also functions as the device's wireless adapter. According to a post by Reddit user Toikka, the metal portion of the puck began sizzling due to a short circuit when it made contact with a metal watch strap.

Toikka said the watch strap had flopped down from a nearby watch charger and hit the charging puck at the exact wrong angle. The short circuit almost started a fire and caused only visual damage to the device and its surroundings.

Valve's Steam Controller manual warns that both the charging puck and the controller contain magnetic parts that may attract magnetic items. The manual advises users to keep the charging puck and the controller free of metallic objects to reduce the potential risks of sparks, property damage, or possible injury. The manual also warns that the magnets in the charging puck and the controller could have negative effects on nearby medical devices, credit cards, and magnetic data storage.

Other gamepad charging accessories take a different approach to power delivery. Controllers such as the Xbox Elite Controller Series 2 and Sony's DualSense Charging Station use exposed metal pins for drop-in convenience when charging. The Steam Controller sold out after going on sale weeks ago.