$$$$$
Stick drift only became a big topic because the limited range of joycons. The switch can't compensate with a bigger deadzone since there isn't much tilt. Most PS and Xbox controllers have drift in some form. It's hidden until you plug it into a PC on software like flight simulator which has zero deadzone by default.
you are talking about a completely different and absolutely not related form of stick drift.
and no, Xbox and PS controllers do not have big dead zones, many shooters let you turn off the deadzone completely (which I usually do, at least on Xbox), it's all about the game and what options it gives you.
the type of drift you are talking about is the drift you get from a not properly centered stick (worn out springs etc)
but the type of stick drift issue everyone is talking about is the one where the contact points of the potentiometers start wearing off and maybe even flake off, which results in falsely detected inputs no matter where the stick is positioned.
I for example have 2 functional PlayStation controllers left that do not have any drift, and these 2 are brand new (less than 4 weeks old). eveery other controller (which are all 1 or more years old) have a form of extreme stick drift. this includes like 4 or 5 DualShock 4 controllers and 3 Dualsense controllers... one of which is still kinda usable, the other 2 not really.
the most common form of drift on PS controllers from my experience is the left stick getting false forward inputs. my theory is that playing shooters and clicking L3 while runnign forward to sprint will wear down the contact on Sony's sticks. as someone who plays Apex I barely even use the L3, I use it to ping stuff and have auto sprint enabled, and I still get this issue maybe 12 months after using a new controller. it's almost like clockwork.
this has nothing to do with the deadzone, I literally have my movement deadzone in Apex on the highest value, it's simply a worn down contact point of the potentiometer.
joycons are even worse. these use a concave contact plate below the stick, and that shit wears off extremely fast.
Joycons btw. have WAY bigger deadzones than PS and Xbox controllers when used on a Switch. the firmware doesn't let you turn down the deadzone to the same degree as on Xbox and PS. in many shooters I can turn down my deadzone on the right stick so far on Xbox and PS that I literally start moving the camera by just lightly touching my stick... this is not possible on any Switch game I ever tried, which had the unfortunate sideeffect that my replacement 3rd party joycons with proper sticks can't use their superior mechanisms to their fullest.
that concave plate also more easily flakes off than on other controllers, and because it's a flat piece of metal basically, the flakes go all over the place and completely fuck your inputs, which is why drift is way more extreme on joycons than on bigger stick mechanisms.
this type of drift can basically never happen on a Hall Effect stick, the only type of drift you can get with those is when the spring wears down.
