Linux 7.4 adds a Nintendo Switch 2 controller driver

Linux 7.4 has merged a driver for Nintendo Switch 2 controllers, Phoronix reported on October 23, 2026. Vicki Pfau wrote it on behalf of Valve, the company behind Steam and the Steam Deck. It lets Linux read the Joy-Con 2, the Pro Controller 2 and the GameCube controllers sold for Nintendo Switch Online. For now the controllers must be plugged in by USB.

What the driver supports

The driver lives in the kernel's HID subsystem. HID, short for Human Interface Device, is the standard that keyboards, mice and game controllers use to report button presses. "This initial work supports general input for the Joy-Con 2, Pro Controller 2, and GameCube NSO controllers," Pfau wrote in the patch description quoted by Phoronix.

General input means buttons and sticks. Several features are missing from this first version:

Feature	Status in the patches
Buttons and sticks on Joy-Con 2, Pro Controller 2, GameCube NSO	Supported
USB connection	Supported, through a USB configuration interface driver
Bluetooth	Not supported yet
Motion sensors (IMU) and battery level	"Not yet present," per the v13 patch
Rumble	Added in a separate patch in v13; not listed as supported by Phoronix

The Kconfig help text, the short note shown when building a kernel, puts it plainly: "Switch 2 controllers currently only support USB mode."

Why Bluetooth has to wait

The Switch 2 controllers are wireless by design, so USB-only support is a real limit. The patch blames "Bluetooth communications being extremely limited in the kernel." The driver therefore "only contains the generic HID and USB configuration interface drivers," Pfau wrote.

Bluetooth support needs two more pieces, according to Phoronix. One is a custom interface in userspace, the programs that run outside the kernel. The other is support in BlueZ, the standard Bluetooth software on Linux. The controllers also use a non-standard pairing method, which this work does not cover.

A long road into the kernel

The driver took sixteen rounds of revisions, Phoronix says. The v13 series on the linux-input mailing list, posted on August 12, 2026, split the work into three patches. A later series was posted in early October and is the one Phoronix links.

The same HID pull request brings other hardware changes in Linux 7.4:

• hid-pulsar, a new driver for Pulsar gaming mice. It reports battery level, voltage and charging status, and works wired or through 1KHz and 4KHz wireless dongles.
• AMD Sensor Fusion Hub support for new AMD Zen 6 Ryzen chips.
• Power management fixes for the Apple Touch Bar and ASUS ROG Ally handhelds.

Linux 7.4 is also gaining performance work this cycle, including a change that makes idle workqueue flushes up to 100x faster on large servers.

What this means for developers

Valve's interest is clear: SteamOS is built on Linux, and Steam players want to use the controllers they already own. Upstream support means every distribution gets the driver, not only SteamOS.

• Test with USB first. Plug a Joy-Con 2 or Pro Controller 2 into a machine running Linux 7.4 and check that buttons and sticks register. Do not expect wireless play yet.
• Do not rely on motion controls. Games that need gyro aiming or motion input will not work through this driver until IMU support lands.
• Game and engine developers: map the new devices. Input libraries that keep controller databases will need entries for these controllers. Check that your library recognizes them once users upgrade.
• Watch BlueZ and userspace projects. Wireless support depends on work outside the kernel. Track BlueZ releases if your users play on handhelds or living-room PCs.
• Check the extras. Owners of Pulsar mice, ASUS ROG Ally handhelds and new AMD Zen 6 laptops also gain support or fixes in this release.