Valve released a new Steam Deck Beta update that includes a useful tweak to its Xbox controller detection.
There’s a bit of a problem with modern Xbox controllers and Bluetooth, where they won’t properly connect up with SteamOS / Linux unless they’ve gone through a firmware update. I’ve seen a lot of support requests about this issue over the years and so it’s good to see Valve highlight it directly. While it’s a Steam Deck Beta Client update, it should apply to other SteamOS devices too.
Controller updates were performed during system updates, or could be done manually from the settings iirc. I mention it because I mainly played on PS3 for years too and definitely remember updating those controllers.
I don’t think any of the updates were ever mandatory though.