Systems and methods for establishing direct communication between a server system and a video game controller are described. The systems and methods include the video game controller and a computing device. An application is executed by the server system when a session is established by the computing device with the server system. Once the application is executed, the video game controller is used to send an identifier to the server system. The server system verifies the identifier to pair the session with the video game controller. When the video game controller is paired with the session, the video game controller can be used to change a state of a virtual scene that is displayed on the computing device or on a display screen.