If you own or plan to own a PlayStation 5 at some point, you may have recently found yourself asking an important question: how often will I have to drop $ 70 on new controllers because my old ones started floating for no reason?
Ideally, if you are budgeting for a new controller, the ideal situation is because you want … well, another controller! As in, one more than you had before. But recently, numerous issues reported by DualSense controllers have made it clear that you will at least have reason to consider replacing the ones you have regularly with the PS5. As more reports of DualSense and a class action lawsuit pop up, you may be wondering how the issue will affect you, and what to do if you encounter it.
What is DualSense drift?
What actually happens is pretty simple: something goes wrong with some DualSense controllers where the controller registers left or right stick input that is not actually entered by the player. This November 26 Reddit thread – a few weeks after the launch of the console in the US – shows the problem quite clearly in Destiny 2. The first person’s camera rotates on its own, although the player is not on the right stick do not touch. everyone.
The issue is not limited to Destiny 2 nor to the right stick. Other users have posted about issues in Call of Duty, Immortals: Phoenix Rising, Watch Dogs: Legion, Apex Legends, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and (in the comments of many of the posts) Cyberpunk 2077. Some have also mentioned that the issue also affects the left analog stick as well as the right side.
These are just a handful of examples, but for months since the PS5 launch, people have been posting people on social platforms about the same issue. Some have argued that this could be a problem with a specific game (a non-zero number of drift issues with Cyberpunk 2077 seems to be specific to the game’s bug list at launch) or that it’s linked to a console. update. But overall, the consensus is that the problem is one internal to the PS5 control hardware and can not be easily solved by swapping games, downloading a patch, or removing something that has already been downloaded. .
Who gets DualSense power?
DualSense drift is not a new issue at all, despite the fact that it recently appeared in the news due to the lawsuit. The above examples of reported dating date back to the time the console first appeared, with numerous more postings on the PlayStation and PS5 subreddits that have since complained about the issue.
So far, DualSense drift does not seem quite as widespread as Nintendo’s Joy-Con drive problem – in an IGN poll in February, 10% of those who responded said they had experienced DualSense drift, while a similar poll seen in May 2020 a whopping 72% of respondents say they have experienced Joy-Con drift. Nevertheless, it is significant enough that significant numbers of people are going to social media – which means that there are many more people experiencing it who have not posted it on the internet. And it’s quite possible that, as with Joy-Cons, we’ll see the DualSense drive problem widen over time – a recent breakdown of iFixit has estimated that the controller’s parts may start to wear out after 400 hours of play. It’s a reasonable possibility that your average PS5 owner might encounter it with at least one controller at some point in the console’s lifetime.
Can DualSense power be corrected?
Specifically, it appears that drift is related to the same issues plaguing other video game controllers that also had drive issues, including previous PlayStation controllers, Xbox controllers (including, yes, the Elite Series 2) and Nintendo’s Joy-Cons. Drift, experts say, is not a matter of a specific manufacturer or controller manufacturer shipping substandard technology, but appears to be a problem specific to the way modern controller hardware is designed in general. Teardowns suggested that the problem could be linked to the potentiometers, internal springs or internal contaminants of the controller.
So, what can be done to restore DualSense drift? If the chance of dust or software problems is, you can follow the steps here to see if that solves the problem. In addition, a number of users have reported going to Sony’s technical support. Sony is currently willing to repair or replace the controllers as long as they are still under warranty, but owners will have to pay for the shipment to get the controller from Sony for the repairs, as well as to provide the box – and that may take a few weeks to send it there, have it repaired and retrieved.
For now, any DualSense controller purchased there must be covered under warranty – but eventually that will no longer be the case. There is currently no set procedure for what to do with DualSense drift if your warranty has expired, nor is there any protocol to do if you buy a used controller with drift unless the store where you purchased it has, has a return policy on which it is covered.
Will Sony do something about DualSense power?
Pressure through pending lawsuits could ultimately affect how users experience DualSense in the future. Sony filed a lawsuit against Sony earlier this month over the issue because it allegedly released the controller knowing it was a problem and did not provide a more effective recovery process for the problem. In particular, agreeing to Sony’s terms and conditions while drafting PS5 should casually force PS5 owners to settle issues like this with arbitration rather than a legal battle, but the recent class action lawsuit was made possible by a plaintiff who send letter to Sony to choose from arbitration, which apparently worked. The forced arbitration clause may make it more challenging to get people on board for further lawsuits, but as awareness spreads, we may see more challenges – especially given how many lawsuits Nintendo has in the same case nearly four years after the Switch launch.
It’s also worth noting that drift may not be the only issue with Sony. Some users report that their DualSense customizable triggers have broken, and users describe either a ‘snap’ that results in an unresponsive response, or a reduced sensitivity on repeated use. It also appears that this issue is covered under warranty and thus subject to the same process, but depending on how widespread it is over time, it is possible that we will escalate it to courts.
Since both drive issues and the functioning of adaptation triggers seem to be inherently related to current management technology, it seems unlikely that Sony is just sitting on a magic bullet that it refuses to implement. It is much more likely that it is too expensive to manufacture controllers with the secret sauce they need to prevent the power completely – a cost that will inevitably be passed on to customers. It is potentially more profitable to handle lawsuits as they come, and apparently discourages most of them with arbitration clauses.
With enough pressure, however, Sony will eventually have to institute a more streamlined process for repairing, repairing or replacing controllers. It took Nintendo more than two years to set up such a process, but in the US it will now replace Joy-Cons for free (including shipping) within a few weeks. Nintendo even implemented an online driving system when COVID-19 delayed its repairs, essentially getting customers to hold on to their controllers before the company was ready to take them in and hand them over on time. Microsoft has meanwhile extended the warranty on its Elite Series 2 controllers from 90 days to one year in response to concerns about its own controllers, in line with the one-year warranty offered by Sony.
Given the circumstances, it seems likely that Sony will set up a more convenient process in less time than Nintendo, simply on the basis of complaints about the distribution that has already been spread across various controllers. For now, dealing with issues under warranty is enough for Sony to get right, but what happens in a year when and when problems are widespread so that consumers complain that they have to spend $ 70 a year per controller just to function? device? After all, this was one of the reasons why Nintendo carried the pressure of bad press for so long: the problem was widespread, but also reflected about two controllers per system instead of just one, which means expensive replacements for insignificant amounts of Switch owners . every year.
Eventually, it will probably be decided over a long period of time which gaming companies decide to do the control of the driver, based on pressure from user complaints, the courts and the financial viability to repair or replace controllers who have problems. If you own a PS5, this is the best way to reduce the cost of replacing expensive controllers as soon as possible to disregard Sony’s arbitration clause. Report any problems with the controller through Sony’s technical support as soon as you notice it to take advantage of repairs. or replacement services they offer, and be sure to test or review the refund policy for used controllers that you may purchase in the future.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.