After the upgrade my steam controller could still connect, but did not produce any visible input.
Seams they split up the udev rules into another package,
so
$ sudo apt install steam-devices
And maybe a reboot.
At seams that package also includes stuff for htc vive!
Is this a package shipping in the ubuntu repos or is this from the Valve developers?
it's officially in the repos. Since ubuntu 16.10.
I also used the steam package from the official repo, so I don't know if it makes a difference if you install from the steam homepage.