Support NeoGAF

[Patrick S.]

I hope these lawsuits will eventually lead to manufacturers using better sensors.

 

[Reptars Revenge]

I should quit my job and just file class action lawsuits all day

 

[Maybe It's Medicine?]

Early adopters are always the biggest losers. I would have sympathy but it's the same song and dance every single time.

 

[Banjo64]

I hate when people throw away a perfectly good controller when the battery is degraded.. you know you can replace the DS4's battery in less than 5 minutes?

Also, am I the only one who's never gotten drift problems? I have the OG 360 controller, PS3/4/5 controllers and everything works just fine.

As someone who’s done several tear downs of my DS4s (replaced analogue sticks with metal replacements) - let me tell you that if you sweat even slightly, Sony’s screws rust extremely quickly. If this happens you won’t be able to get any bite with your screwdriver and you end up stripping the screw. The same thing happened with my New 3DS. It can turn a simple 5 minute job in to an absolute never ending nightmare. If you manage to crack it open, make sure you replace the screws with some quality ones.

 

[John Day]

good for you. your post adds nothing. do you think just because you have ZERO ISSUES with yours that it means everythings fine? there are obviously people out there experiencing the problem so again your comments adds 0 to the conversation.

He just commented he hasn’t experienced it. His post has as much merit as yours bitching about his post. Don’t be ridiculous.

 

[azertydu91]

Maybe they'll develop a better analog unit for the next run of controllers or ditch click-sticks in favor of buttons on the back side of the controllers.



I think the theory has merit. I started getting drift when the click sticks came around, sometimes on new controllers after just a few weeks. When I started using controllers with paddles I stopped using the click sticks and stopped having drift issues. On my Switch I avoid using them whenever possible and when I do use them I'm super delicate about it. My Joycons are still fine after three years.

Even if they aren't a cause, they are awful and should be axed.

Shit totally opposite experience between you and me.Maybe I got lucky with all my controllers and you didn't which could explain that difference.

 

[lukilladog]

Is there actually a solution to analog sticks without drifting?

Genuinely curious as it seems to be an issue with everybody

Of course there is, they just need to use better parts and design. A design with steel spring components would put the stick on its place for a long time.

 

[Tomeru]

I dont know if the fault lies with sony and ms for using the same kind of sticks they used in last gen controllers (literally the same brand and type), or the maker of these sticks. Its pretty easy to fix these though...

You woulda thunk it would be new sticks by now

 

[Shelookdlvl18]

MS and Sony use the exact same thumbstick component for the thumbsticks. This component is what may cause drift especially if player play alot of games that use L3 and R3 to run.
Nintendo switch pro contoller also use the exact same as these ones.

Switch joycons uses a different one, that is actually seems to be worst and be more suscestible to drift.

Dont fall into FUD. Enjoy ur consoles, it u get a faulty controller thats what warranty is for.

I own:
2 Dreamcast controllers
3 Xbox OG controllers
2 PS2 controllers
2 PS3 controllers
1 X360 controller
3 PS4 controllers
2 PS5 controllers

Zero Problems between all these controllers, aside from batery life reaching a point of very low charge on the PS4 controllers after 4 years of heavy use.

Only controller that broke on me was the Master System 2 one. D-Pad stoped working, and i cant play alex kid anymore. Too lazy to buy a new controller from e-bay.

I find this issue very strange for Sony controllers. Since the 360, I've noticed Microsoft controllers have absolute garbage center point out of the box compared to Sony controllers. For instance if I try to calibrate the deadzone to the least amount required for the controller to not read false movement away from dead center, both my PS4 controllers and my DualSense require exactly 3% deadzone to 0 out the stick reading to perfect center. Meanwhile every single Xbox controller I've used since the 360 (original Xbox controllers both duke and S were unaffected) have required insane amounts of deadzone to cancel out bad center point readings. For the 360 controller out of the box it needed a whopping 25% to completely block all upward movement from "center". My Xbox One controller needed 18%. Every friend's Xbox controller I tried was in the same field of 15% or more. This is insane and speaks to a serious fault in the manufacturing process on these controllers. In comparison, my Sony controllers have all been super tight going all the way back to the first dual analog controller I used on PS1.

I don't want to accuse anyone of being guilty of something they're not but...

It would appear as though one of you is lying.

 

[TLZ]

Felt like its too quick in comparison with the law suit against Nintendo.

That's what I thought too. I only saw one person here I think complain about it and bam lawsuit.

While tons of people complained about the shit Joycons for years until we got a lawsuit.

Nintendo fans are more hardcore about their machine I guess.

 

[Kamina]

good for you. your post adds nothing. do you think just because you have ZERO ISSUES with yours that it means everythings fine? there are obviously people out there experiencing the problem so again your comments adds 0 to the conversation.

I beg to differ.
His post is exactly what conversations sometimes need: information from the field.
His post does not mean to invalidate other people‘s claims of problems, thats just what you read into it.

Some here forget that the ones posting usually are the vocal part of those who have problems.
Seeing posts of those who do not have problems is a reality check and helps people understand that it isnt all bad.

I also have two controllers without issues; been using them heavily for two months now, no sign of drift.

 

[Kagey K]

MS and Sony use the exact same thumbstick component for the thumbsticks. This component is what may cause drift especially if player play alot of games that use L3 and R3 to run.
Nintendo switch pro contoller also use the exact same as these ones.

Switch joycons uses a different one, that is actually seems to be worst and be more suscestible to drift.

Dont fall into FUD. Enjoy ur consoles, it u get a faulty controller thats what warranty is for.

I own:
2 Dreamcast controllers
3 Xbox OG controllers
2 PS2 controllers
2 PS3 controllers
1 X360 controller
3 PS4 controllers
2 PS5 controllers

Zero Problems between all these controllers, aside from batery life reaching a point of very low charge on the PS4 controllers after 4 years of heavy use.

Only controller that broke on me was the Master System 2 one. D-Pad stoped working, and i cant play alex kid anymore. Too lazy to buy a new controller from e-bay.

I'd probably not use that defense, since if one of them is found guilty they all go down together.

I would have stayed as far away as I could from the other lawsuits.

 

[Trimesh]

Is there actually a solution to analog sticks without drifting?

Genuinely curious as it seems to be an issue with everybody

Strain gauges or hall effect magnetic joysticks. Note that Atari's "I Robot" arcade machine, released in 1983, used hall effect joysticks precisely because of concerns that using pot type joysticks would suffer from wear and drift.

 

[scraz]

Neat, another class action law suit were i get a 12 check that i definitely wont just throw in the trash.

 

[Redlancet]

0 issues with mine and my DS4, both from launch consoles.

A lot of people lying in this kind of threads just for hipérbole i have 23 controllers, only que joycons and the Xbox elite give me problems, go figure

 

[triplestation]

edit: damn it youtube

 

[wvnative]

The deadzones were bigger (on the ps1 and N64 they are huge) and the bit precision was lower. The PS2 for example only had 8 bit resolution sticks whereas sticks now use 10 bit and 12 bit precision.

A bigger deadzones + less sensitivity = smaller/slight discrepancies in movement not registering and no "drift".

Thank you for that info! Didn't really think about that

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Maybe they'll develop a better analog unit for the next run of controllers or ditch click-sticks in favor of buttons on the back side of the controllers.



I think the theory has merit. I started getting drift when the click sticks came around, sometimes on new controllers after just a few weeks. When I started using controllers with paddles I stopped using the click sticks and stopped having drift issues. On my Switch I avoid using them whenever possible and when I do use them I'm super delicate about it. My Joycons are still fine after three years.

Even if they aren't a cause, they are awful and should be axed.

Sony collected A LOT of data with the DS4. They chose the same stick unit because they were satisfied with how the DS4 performed for them.

 

[JimboJones]

Is there actually a solution to analog sticks without drifting?

Genuinely curious as it seems to be an issue with everybody

A band aid solution for the time being would be to let users set the deadzone at system level.

 

[Armorian]

 

[Clear]

Not sure how you can do a class-action suit against a product that's only been on the market for less than 4 months ensuring that everything is still under warranty! Sony are just going to argue that they are already covering all defects, which may be more frequent initially as manufacturing is not yet fully mature.

 

[FUBARx89]

Not to toss anyone out the window who has the issue, but I had 0 stick drift on all 4 of my dualshock 4 controllers nor on either of my dualsense controllers.

Now, the trigger springs are a different story...

 

[SafeOrAlone]

As a lifelong supporter of Sony, it fills me with glee to see them held accountable for crap like this.

 

[VGEsoterica]

lawyers gotta lawyer...so dumb they do class actions at the first hint of an issue

 

[Captain Toad]

This won't go anywhere. It simply isn't a large scale issue like the Joy-cons. The failure rate is right aligned with every other controller with analog sticks.

 

[Tg89]

MS and Sony use the exact same thumbstick component for the thumbsticks. This component is what may cause drift especially if player play alot of games that use L3 and R3 to run.
Nintendo switch pro contoller also use the exact same as these ones.

So you're saying the solution is to just make devs not use R3/L3 to run??? I'm allllll for it.

 

[rofif]

The only drift lawsuit should be to Justin Lin for Tokyo Drift....
Ok I will see myself out

/s love the movie

 

[Schmick]

What stick based controllers DONT get drift?. All my Xbox controllers i use on PC eventually get drift.

The console only released 3 months ago!

 

[Alebrije]

Hope this makes Sony deliver a better controller , got a second one for my PS5 and presented other issue , contrary to drift my left stick does not respond sometines when moving forward my character. Have not returned because once I spin the stick several times the issue dissapears but it comes back days later...

 

[01011001]

The DualShock 4 was the biggest joke I ever experienced in controllers: Had to cut off the light, buy 2 batteries until the third was a real and not a fake one so the charge would finally last adequately and had to replace the concave sticks to convex ones. Unbelievable, just unbelievable.

yeah I basically run mine like a wired controller at all times due to the terrible battery life and have replaced the shitty stock sticks with Xbox One Elite sticks... which is also a hassle since opening up a Dualshock 4 is ridiculously annoying

 

[ShadowWolf712]

This feels too soon. Isn't the hardware covered under a year warranty? So if you have drift you just get a replacement?

Also drift is something I've not even heard about with these so far. Don't get me wrong if you have any defects I hope it gets taken care of.

Feels like an attorney cash grab so fill me in on what I'm missing here.

Given the law firm alleges that their investigation shows Sony "was aware of the problem and shipped anyway" without any basis for this, and given it IS covered under warranty, this reeks of them just trying to gin up bad PR so Sony will pay out a Settlement to make it go away.

I'm not saying that there aren't controllers drifting, but I do question how widespread that is and why a suit is necessary if they're covering the issue.

 

[Keihart]

Sony knows no mercy when it comes to controllers. You own the next generation? Throw your old controllers away! Battery defect? Buy a new one! Make controllers from other systems functional? Buy ours instead because we want to increase sales!

PS4 arcade sticks are still working on PS5, so that's better than last 2 gens at least.

 

[vito_don_corleone_]

Who wants to bet it's Microsoft using a proxy company?

 

[ShadowWolf712]

Who wants to bet it's Microsoft using a proxy company?

Nah, just scam lawyers being scam lawyers.

 

[ShadowWolf712]

PS4 arcade sticks are still working on PS5, so that's better than last 2 gens at least.

The DS4 still works for PS4 titles as well so I mean...

 

[D.Final]

A classic move
Even the story remember that Switch problem

 

[DeepEnigma]

Not sure how you can do a class-action suit against a product that's only been on the market for less than 4 months ensuring that everything is still under warranty! Sony are just going to argue that they are already covering all defects, which may be more frequent initially as manufacturing is not yet fully mature.

 

[Fox Mulder]

Nintendo, MS, and Sony all use the same analog stick hardware provided by the same company and drift is happening to all of them.

I had a DS4 with drift and just threw it in the trash.

 

[B_Boss]

I’ve high level OCD with my controllers....always. I’m the person that buys a controller case/cover before I get the controller lol. I’ve Never dropped mine or have caused it any physical trauma of any kind and I play only 2-3 games mostly (for a few hours a session, maybe 3-4 sessions per week.

I’ve already returned my dualsense to Sony that came with the console. Suffered terrible stick drift and I’m guessing they replaced it? Either way, whatever gets them to reengineer the internals. We should have to worry about issues like this in 2021. I will admit that this is the first time I’ve ever had a controller issue so early.

 

[Xtib81]

I have 2 dualsense controllers and both suffer from it :/ I'll try to get them replaced soon

 

[SLB1904]

I have 2 dualsense controllers and both are fine. Still hope nothing happen. I hate the return process for anything

 

[Genx3]

All Analogue sticks eventually get drift.

There should be a way to zero out the controller every time it gets drift.
Basically let you recalibrate the controller so it's at zero when the stick isn't being moved.

 

[Genx3]

Deleted double post

 

[VeganElduderino]

My red Ps4 co troller just started to drift it made me fail a few times while playing Little nightmares 2 , fucking character would start walking on its own, so basically you can't use the controllers too much cause it will drift eventually, like a ticking time bomb , that's fucking dumb

 

[Sander Cohen]

Just shows how you need to pay extra attention to basics and that is controller. What good is all the shiny graphics and flashy gameplay if object of input is not functioning properly. It’s like Formula 1 car with steering wheel not working. Be fucking smarter with this shit unless you’re doing it intentionally for profits.

 

[Reptars Revenge]

I haven’t had a joy con or dual sense drift so here’s hoping the streak continues.

 

[TLZ]

All Analogue sticks eventually get drift.

There should be a way to zero out the controller every time it gets drift.
Basically let you recalibrate the controller so it's at zero when the stick isn't being moved.

All my analogue sticks are perfectly fine. Since PS1. The first time I've ever had this was with the Joycon.

 

[FranXico]

lawyers gotta lawyer...so dumb they do class actions at the first hint of an issue

I don't think it's dumb. It's a way to keep companies on their toes regarding the quality of their products.

 

[Genx3]

All my analogue sticks are perfectly fine. Since PS1. The first time I've ever had this was with the Joycon.

Really.
You have some good luck then.

 

[Guileless]

All you PS5 owners can look forward to a Miller High Life tallboy when you get your settlement checks in 2027.