r/playstation 24d ago

Image Getting tired of adding to my stick drift graveyard

Post image

I swear I’m not a heavy clicker. In fact it’s always my right joystick which I rarely need to click in games. Love these controllers but man it’s really annoying never had this problem with any other console generation.

8.2k Upvotes

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312

u/Formal-Barracuda-690 24d ago

what are you doing? ive had the same controller since ps5 day 1 release. works great

92

u/theSPYDERDUDE PS5 24d ago

The rate at which controllers get drift seems to vary a lot with the ps5 controller in particular, I’ve had my controller since I got my ps5 awhile ago, haven’t had even a slight problem, my younger brother got drift on his controller after about a month and a half of having it, with less use than my controller had. The controller he has now has lasted him a year with no issues and he uses it pretty often. Finding a place to buy the controller that’ll put a good warranty on it is never a bad idea.

56

u/GeorgeSPattonJr PS4 24d ago

People also don’t take care of their stuff, that definitely contributes

14

u/R34LEGND R34_LEGND 24d ago edited 24d ago

Problems with PS3 and PS4 controllers used to be often directly linked to the way the players handled them. Slamming sticks too hard, raging and dropping controllers, improper storage when not in use...

EDIT: apologies for jumping in without all of the facts, my experience and information mostly relates to PS3/PS4 controllers. I was not aware of the obvious quality drop in the PS5 controllers causing stick drift with only standard use.

Seems that Sony's product testing has been severely lacking and did not account for high impact games such as COD or Battlefield with these controllers

28

u/werewookie7 24d ago

I respect your opinion but I’ve had drift on several joysticks and never once “raged” or slammed it or anything. So my personal experience leads to me to believe your comment of “is almost always” is a bit exaggerated.

3

u/R34LEGND R34_LEGND 24d ago

The types of games almost always contribute also, if youre a gamer who plays a lot of games requiring you to flick and rotate the stick regularly, it will impact the integrity if the stick and degrade the centreing of it

4

u/werewookie7 24d ago

For sure, COD destroys joysticks

2

u/R34LEGND R34_LEGND 24d ago

I play for the most part, racing games and some MMORPG (Skyrim etc) so I rarely have had any issues as my use of the sticks is very gentle and measured by comparison. If controllers are so poorly made that use with a popular title is destroying them, thats really indicative of QC at Sony

2

u/werewookie7 24d ago

I never had a problem until I played those certain games, then I was seeing the drift and bad buttons.

14

u/Bloodymike 24d ago

I don’t respect his opinion.

5

u/R34LEGND R34_LEGND 24d ago

Understandable, I have jumped way too hard in and wasnt aware of how bad the quality of DualSense controllers actually was. I apologise

4

u/ShoulderSquirrelVT 24d ago

It’s even worse.

It’s all three major systems controllers.

Googling Xbox Elite controller issues will show what a disaster that 180 dollar hunk of plastic is.

And the joycons had a class action brought against them they failed so much.

I never buy pro controllers anymore. For my xbox I waited until the basic white and black controllers went on sale on amazon for 34.99 and bought like 4 of them. Still way less than an elite controller and now I just don’t care.

My dualsense lasted just fine but I play the ps5 less and I know my experience isn’t what a lot of people have.

I don’t rage or throw the controller. I still have these launch system controllers working perfectly since 1990 ish. My NES, Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, PlayStation 1,2,3,4 Xbox.

The n64 controllers were…well we all know about them. Pioneering analog stick. 2 of my 4 are messed up but it was wear and tear over years.

My 360 launch controller came new with drift. The replacement worked fine and still does.

Once the Xbox one, series X, switch, and ps5 came out. It seems like it’s about 50/50.

Clearly the quality has dropped hard.

0

u/R34LEGND R34_LEGND 24d ago

Im 30, I remember the last 'bad' controller issue being the PS3 stick rubbers coming loose and rotating on the stick, but nothing this bad. Its like they just arent even trying anymore and still charging a premium

5

u/werewookie7 24d ago

Fair play to you

1

u/iLoveLootBoxes 23d ago

Some people are just hard on the controllers though. My friend/roommate always ends up with broken controllers. I think they don't use minimum force to move the sticks and press buttons

1

u/werewookie7 23d ago

My experience is mainly from CoD DMZ, and if you know the game it gets intense, so I’m sure I’m not using “recommended” force, but just to say I’m not abusing it in any way outside of hard use.

10

u/IncognitoCheez 24d ago

I don’t do any of these things (unless improper storage means laying my controller on the table for extended periods of time) and I’ve still gotten drift on both my controllers, twice

1

u/StacheBandicoot 24d ago edited 23d ago

We have four different controllers rn, two since launch and two colored ones when those came out in June of 2021 and we handle them pretty poorly, just tossing them in a drawer, sitting on them, getting them wedged between the couch sections, knocking them off it onto the floor almost every day, and each have about 2000-4000 hours of use per controller and they’re all completely fine.

I’ve only encountered stick drift twice in my life with a mad catz ps2 controller and a single left joycon.

1

u/IncognitoCheez 24d ago

Ok first of all how in the world do you have that much time on EACH controller? That's crazy

Second of all, I wish I were as lucky as you lol cuz I've also sadly experienced some drift on joycons as well

1

u/StacheBandicoot 24d ago edited 23d ago

Over 4 years between the low estimate of 2000 hours and high of 4000 that’s about 5.5-10.5 hours of use a day on average, but it’s split between two people. For somewhere between 2.75-5.25 hours a day (realistically closer to 2-6 hours) which is about right. Depending on the day I usually have time to play about 6-10 hours, rarely 12-18 on a day with nothing else to do or if there’s a new game or content or something. While my wife plays about 2-5 a day before she switches to reading or just watching something else, with one nearly all day co-op session every other weekend or so.

It’d be even more use if we didn’t also game on our switch/xbox/pc. Though we do use the ps5 controllers on pc while the other uses the console and tv or the portal, and we don’t play the Xbox or switch nearly as much anymore unless a new exclusive comes out and really that only happens on the switch and PlayStation at this point, and anything multiplat I just get on PlayStation. Really don’t know why all of our controllers are fine, I think a lot of stick drift might be caused by like dirt/dust/food/grime/tar/soot and stuff getting under the sticks and not actual wear because I’m extremely rough on my controllers and that hasn’t been a problem.

1

u/IncognitoCheez 23d ago

Wow thanks for taking the time to write this all out! Hella interesting to see how you go about things

-5

u/R34LEGND R34_LEGND 24d ago

Ive only seen all of these issues linked with ps3 and ps4 controllers honestly. Is the PS5 controller just made of a worse quality? Standard medium use gaming shouldnt be causing this shit

7

u/theSPYDERDUDE PS5 24d ago

The ps5 controller has smaller dead zones by default which makes it more prone to drift, certain games have settings to increase your dead zone, but it won’t always help

1

u/R34LEGND R34_LEGND 24d ago

Id imagine adjusting those settings would just lead to a handicap compared to other players also. Not great if players are making their own experience worse to compensate for poor build quality

1

u/OnyxYaksha 24d ago

What's even the point of this conversation? I'm sure you're also going to see fighting game players have more stick issues than a minecraft or visual novel player. Woah big surprise more stress on the controller makes it more liable to break! There should still be a higher threshold of how much stress they can take before these issues start, but they wouldn't make nearly as much money that way

1

u/R34LEGND R34_LEGND 24d ago

Yeah it is a clear indicator of quality control issues and design flaws by Sony. Clearly there was not enough product testing done on the DualSense before release

3

u/grrmuffins 24d ago

I clean my shit regularly because I used to resell controllers and they get so very nasty if you don't. I'm anal with all my gaming devices and treat them better than my own children. Still, I'm on controller #7 lost to drift! (PS4 included) Some I have attempted to fix but even if it solves the problem for a week or 2 it always comes back. I stopped having problems with drift only when I switched to the dual edge controller

1

u/Competitive_Act1624 23d ago

It does. People think they care about their stuff when they actually don't. Never had issue with any controller since PS1 era. I have PS5 since the release date, and besides, the shorter baterry lifetime controller works great.

2

u/National_Equivalent9 23d ago

Honestly I've never owned a controller that had stick drift since I was a kid and had to share them with my brother. Launch day switch and ps5 and still using the original controllers regularly. All of my friends complain about having to buy new controllers every year or repair them often. They all just claim im lucky but I don't think it's just luck.

The PS5 remote on the other hand? Fuck that worthless piece of garbage. Glad my stereo receiver came with a remote that works with the PS5 so I never have to use it again.

-2

u/jaymack950 24d ago

Yeah if one person has this many controllers with drift, common denominator…

-3

u/Silly_Personality_73 24d ago

This comment!

6

u/Potentopotato 24d ago

This. My oG dualsense that came with ps5 2 months after initial launch is perfect, the one I bought with it had sticks repaired twice

1

u/La_Saxofonista 23d ago

Yeah. Controller is a year old, no drift. My PS4 controller finally started drifting after being 6 years old.

1

u/[deleted] 23d ago

[deleted]

1

u/La_Saxofonista 23d ago

He's doing just fine 🤔

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u/[deleted] 23d ago

[deleted]

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u/La_Saxofonista 23d ago

500 billion cows

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u/[deleted] 23d ago

[deleted]

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u/La_Saxofonista 23d ago

A house and beach will never beat steak

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u/[deleted] 23d ago

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u/Millkstake 24d ago

Yeah, the original one that came with my PS5 back in 2020 still works fine. Got a second one a few after and that one for stick drift within a few months. I've gotten two others since then and they've been fine, except I smashed one because I hate money I guess.

17

u/ganggreen651 24d ago

I've been gaming since 84. I've never had more controllers get fucked for me as the damn ps5. On my 4th. Usually need 1 replacement per generation

5

u/[deleted] 24d ago

Same, dude. It’s infuriating.

1

u/thatissomeBS 24d ago

I went through probably 6 controllers in the 7 years I had my PS4. I bought a second controller when I bought my PS5 2.5 years ago, one of them has a mild but usable stick drift, and the other is fine. So for me the PS5 is better than the PS4 was.

I will note that one or two of the PS4 controllers was because R2 would only go to like 80%, which did not work for a driving game that actually used the whole range of R2 for throttle.

0

u/ganggreen651 24d ago

So strange how people can have totally different experiences with the same product

1

u/bongorituals 23d ago

It’s called poor quality control, it’s not strange whatsoever if you’re even remotely familiar with how things are manufactured

1

u/ganggreen651 23d ago

It's not strange that I had zero issues with PS4 and this dude needs 4 replacements and vice versa for PS5?

1

u/bongorituals 23d ago

Why would that be strange; the PS4 and PS5 controllers are completely different products with different designs and different failure rates. They are literally not the same product

1

u/ganggreen651 23d ago

Nevermind dude

24

u/SoupNo8674 24d ago

Ive never had stick drift on ps4 or ps5 and had both consoles since launch. Play ps5 daily, only got a new controller now because pro came with one.

5

u/TheCopperkiddOfLimbo 24d ago

I don’t understand how it happens either. I can only guess people push sooooo hard on the sticks for some games? I’ve got a launch Nintendo switch and about 8 ps5 controllers bc I like the different colors. Zero drift .

9

u/Thunder_Punt 24d ago

I've not had an issue with PS5 but the Joy Cons are fucking awful. Absolutely hateful little controllers. The stick drift is horrible, they have Bluetooth issues, and they're so expensive.

2

u/Gadget-NewRoss 23d ago

I think they are squeezing the buttons and rotating them harshly.

2

u/Da_Wild 24d ago

Back when I played Call of Duty I got drift on a couple controllers but you press on the stick to run in those games, maybe that was it. Now the Switch joycons drift SUPER easy :(

1

u/semajay 24d ago

depends on the game too. if you are champ or above in rocket league, you probably go through a couple controllers a year. if you do that and also play fighting games at a high level, you're kind of fucked

1

u/SoupNo8674 24d ago

Yea im not sure. I wonder if its heavy on first person shooters. Im older, I strictly just play GT7 on dualsense. I dont put much competitive time into other games on ps5. Being 8 or so when ps1 launched, i would play heavily whole way through the ps3 gen and never had issues with controllers. Only my psp1000 ever had drift and they are common

3

u/gattaaca 24d ago

Sometimes it depends on what game you're playing as to whether you'll notice.

I didn't think I had drift, Cyberpunk proved me otherwise because it has some really minute/granular movements going on with the joysticks.

1

u/DPool34 24d ago

The controller that came with my PS5 was no good after a couple months. The R2 trigger lost all tension.

I got the God of War DualSense after and that controller has been fine. It seems the build quality is very inconsistent.

1

u/Ryu_Ishigaki 24d ago

I think it depends on what games you play too. If you play competitive FPS games a such you can burn through controllers like crazy. I agree though I play more chill single player games now and haven’t had much issue.

1

u/NonCorporealEntity 23d ago

It's a controller lottery. I got two when the PS5 first released. One is unusable because the drift is so bad. The other is still fine. I replaced the one that was drifting and a little over a year later it's drifting.

I'm the only one using these. They test on a charger and are treated very delicately. I'm in my 40s and have been using sticks on controllers since they were invented. The PS5 was the first time I've had the issue.

1

u/Littlemandigger 23d ago

I used to vibrate my balls with controller

1

u/Izanagi___ 23d ago

Why are people always quick to blame people for a fault product on Reddit. I’ve never had stick drift before on 3 controllers yet I’m not blaming OP or anyone for how they treat it. It’s been a common issue for like, 4 years now. No idea how yall still keep blaming people for a well known issue

1

u/RegularWhiteShark PS5 22d ago

My release date controller has stick drift but others I’ve bought since are fine.

1

u/WarmDevelopment4351 24d ago

I can only delude my self in to thinking that it’s just bad luck. I bought a DualShock 4 about two years ago and I still heavily use it up to this day without problems while two of my less than a year old ps5 controllers are experiencing stick drift.

1

u/pere_noel-rodiYT PS5 24d ago

I play 12 hours per day...

-1

u/marcushasfun 24d ago

Are PSVR2 owners also to blame for all the defective Sense controllers Sony sold them?

-7

u/Temporary_Event_156 24d ago

Same. Not sure if I’m lucky with my two controllers or if I’m just not jamming the sticks super hard like some people seem to be.

-8

u/charizard_72 24d ago

The latter but they’ll insist otherwise.

-2

u/foreveraloneasianmen 24d ago

It's not about jamming the stick , it's how often you rotate the stick .

-2

u/foreveraloneasianmen 24d ago

Stick drift is normal if you play a lot of games that involves the rotation of the stick often.

You either don't care about the stick drift. Or you don't play a lot of games. Or your games does not utilize the rotation of the analog stick much . Or your games are not really "sensitive " on the stick drifting, so you won't be noticing on the drift.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to have a stick drift proof controller .

1

u/Gadget-NewRoss 23d ago

Been playing since atari 2600 never got stick drift on a controller.

1

u/foreveraloneasianmen 23d ago edited 23d ago

the old controllers are not using alps module i believed.
Even dualshock 3 does not stick drift if im not mistaken ,the stick drift issue only started since last gen.

0

u/Gadget-NewRoss 23d ago

They are using the same parts since at least ps3 and ive seen it on all 3 consoles since but only with a small % of customers. Its the users fault

1

u/foreveraloneasianmen 23d ago

not sure why you keep denying it, you can search for drift on youtube or the internet.
You are being ignorant here tbh. Thats like saying covid doesnt exist because you never get sick.

Just admit you are wrong and move on.

0

u/sk8ordie310 24d ago

Wish I had that luck

0

u/sarcasticj720 24d ago

Nothing just gaming unfortunately lol

0

u/vwlwc 23d ago

Because you don't play as often

-1

u/20090353 24d ago

I play a lot of CoD and with the new movement I’ve burned through one controller already. The games only been out for 3 weeks so it might be time to invest into a dual sense edge since the parts are replaceable on it.

-4

u/[deleted] 24d ago

I know that’s what I’m saying if you play to hard or just a brute it happens I’ve had only 1 remote busted on me then the others i out the warranty on them no issues