PS5's Rumoured Pro Controller Could Have a Sturdy Solution to Stick Drift

If you could buy replacement part i would.

If its as premium feeling as the Xbox Elite then I'm game for it. Triple the battery life, lower the latency, and give me paddles on the back.

Anybody here have the...."thrustmaster"😆😆?
And if so, how do the components feel? Jiggly after so many removals and insertions, etc.

Spend a couple more pennies to use a better component? NAAAAAAAAH! Engineer an entirely new solution so consumers can keep replacing it. YEEEEEEEEES!

I know that those extra buttons will be useful on PC, but does Sony allow console users to modify them? AFAIK they don't even allow you to increase the deadzone of a faulty stick.

My original PS4 controller still works perfectly and it is probably 8+ years old. It's very loose but still no drifting.

My PS5 controller is about a year old and it's already drifting with the right analog stick.

Hahahahhh ... There are people here who think the problem of drift is fantasy. It answers the question. Solution: Use the parts in PSOne, PS2, Wii Classic Controller or Wiiu Pro Controller. They never had problems!

This is exactly how I always thought Controllers should be. It's criminal having users buying entire new controllers because of drift. Anyways, I gave up and opened mine knowing how risky it is after ruining my first controller. This time, I was almost flawless and managed to fix with no issues, it feels like new now. And it shouldn't be about replacing the entire analogue stick unit, it should be easily opened by anyone for easy cleaning.

@JudgeDredd controller tear downs have shown that the stick components are identical to the DS4. Theres not really a console controller that is immune to drift at this point.

@Shepherd_Tallon I didn't think my controllers had stick drift. Only one time in Elden Ring I noticed something funny but initially thought it was an issue in the game, hasn't appeared after that. Then I played Sniper Elite 5 and that game exposed stick drift not only in one but in the other controller as well to varying degrees. Luckily, it's only in this particular game. I guess because it seems to have absolutely 0.0 dead zones. While it doesn't bother me at all in other games, I am seriously thinking about this new controller now. Once you've experienced it, you automatically start checking again and again.

That would definitely be a win in my book, and could make it better than the XB Elites, which are fantastic, but stick drift is a real issue.

@JudgeDredd @Ward_ting Sony controllers have long suffered from comically huge deadzones. This makes them pretty inaccurate for very precise movements in games where tiny minute stick movements should have mouse-level control. But it has, until now, spared them from subtle stick drift from showing up, since the stick didn't register movements until a ridiculously huge movement was input. If the physical part had a minor stick drift in that lower range, it wouldn't actually register as an input.

This made PS controllers less prone to reveal stick drift issues than XB or Nintendo sticks, but on the flip side, made them much less sensitive controllers for games benefiting from small motions, which these days, is a lot of them.

The DS5 now has "normal" small deadzones and is about as sensitive as XB/Nintendo controllers. And now also displays the effects of stick drift as much as those, too.

It's one of those things that they actually made the controller better and more useful, but the side effect is that it's also more fragile, or rather, it's fragility is now interfering with inputs.

@PhhhCough You're a bad person.

@Shepherd_Tallon
Mine is still going.

I've got PS3 controllers - multiple - and none have drift.

Multiple PS4 controllers - none have drift.

Launch day PS5 - I've already replaced two controllers under warranty for drift, and one of the replacements is starting to drift again. I use DualShock (PS4) controllers for backwards-compatible games on my PS5 now, and only use the DualSense for actual PS5 games.

This generation is absolutely worse. The question is, would a "pro" controller with replaceable parts be any better, or would the replaceable nature make it so much more expensive it would be cheaper to buy a new regular controller? Would it last longer? If they DO release it today, we won't know for another year, anyway.

@RobN The cheapest option is to stop playing games.

If it has much better battery life, I'd consider it, although it's going to be expensive. Not sure I'd be willing to pay it even for said better battery life, but that would still have the be a requirement to get me to consider it at least.

Had mine for a little over a year now and it still handles like a dream. Neither my Switch Pro nor Xbox controllers can claim the same. The DualSense is a pricey piece of hardware but worth every penny so far.

One of my controllers has slight drift in the right stick. I was able to compensate by increasing the dead zone in games that allow it.

Sony could offer a general options menu that allows us to modify the deadzones of the sticks ourselves.

I don’t see why controllers don’t use that fancy electro-mechanical set up the Dreamcast controller used. I mean that controller sucked for the most part, but I’ve literally never heard of drifting.

@Anke Absolutely 100% yes. As long as it has back buttons it’s a sale for me. Loved that attachment on the PS4. I also thought it was prepping us for back buttons on PS5. Hopefully soon!

Never had stick drift on any Sony or MS console, nor any Ninty console, apart from the Switch, which is awful.
I’m always surprised to hear it seems to be such a big deal for people.
I did, however, recently kick one of my PS5 controllers across the wooden floor and into the wall - now the R2 trigger is…somewhat flaccid. So always good to be able to replace parts I guess.

Why do people have to pay a premium to fix a manufacturing fault from Sony? This should be fixed on all new updated dualsense controllers, that crap shouldn't cost $200!

@jrt87 that doesn't solve the issue, it merely delays it. Tried it many times and my controller continued to get worse eventually.

now with less drifting!

@NEStalgia Disagree. I have had little to no issues with dual shock 4 and dual sense controllers but that's your opinion.

My buddy and I both got launch ps5s and an extra controller. All 4 controllers got stick drift, 2 were out of warranty. I love the dualsense, it’s my favorite controller ever, but the stick drift thing is ridiculous. I’ve owned 4 generations of Sony consoles and never had a controller with stick drift, then suddenly they forgot how to make an analog stick.

I feel lucky in that my ps5 has never had coil whine and my dual sense is still as good as it was day 1..i feel for those who have had faulty controllers and loud,whiney ps5's but i'm all good so far...

@Don_Corleone My explanation was describing why drift was less common with ds4 than other brands controllers, and why drift is a more common occurrence on dual sense than previous playstation controllers, but not more common than other brands controllers.

Not really much opinion there. Ds5 improved on its sensitivity vs older ps controllers which exposes it more to a problem common to all controllers.

"Hasn't happened to me" doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Hasn't happened to my ds5 yet either, but it eventually will, just like my xb and Nintendo controllers, and it's happened to plenty of other people.

i shouldn’t have to buy a “pro” controller for their legitimately faulty controller . wouldn’t have happened if jim ryan wasn’t in charge and fabricating ways to hustle more money with anti-consumer practices

@huyi facts

@Ward_ting i don’t know , the ps5 controller is pretty garbage . aside from the gimmicks - the fat shapeless size , horrible battery life , and feeble analogs is bad . the ps4 controller is much better ergonomically with a better grip for competitive gaming

@MKD88 @JudgeDredd @OrtadragoonX @RobN Clean it with a contact cleaner. There's no way the stick assembly which is the same as on PS4 dual shock could have worn out in that period of time.

I fixed the drift by opening the casing and spraying the contact cleaner into the stick assembly. That's it. No drift for more than a year since then.

@nomither6 I actually agree with you on the ergonomics. I’ve got quite small hands and the ds4 is more comfortable for me. I actually also prefer the smooth texture too. The rough texture of the PS5 controller can be a bit much sometime. As for battery life and gimmicks, the battery for me has always been pretty good. I love the haptics but I’m not so fond of the adaptive triggers.

I thought Sony had revised the innards of the Dual Sense, starting with the vile coloured ones a little while ago? Or was that to address some other weak component in the trigger mechanism?

Instead of free replacement, you can now pay for spare parts and fix it yourself...some solution that is

They could just use Hall effect sensors in the joysticks

For me, whether I buy this depends on how the extra buttons appear on PC - I'm fairly happy with the Dualsense on PS5, but it doesn't quite replace my Steam Controller on PC. The Steam Controller feels kinda cheap and nasty in comparison, but the rear paddles and the fact the left stick is a trackpad (as is the right "dpad") make it 100% better for PC games. If the Dualsense Pro (or whatever they call it) exposes the back buttons directly, rather than just duplicating other input, then I'll forego the easy-to-reach left trackpad (because mouse aiming is superior for FPS, and it works better on the desktop/in RTS type interfaces too) for the premium construction and the fact it'll likely still see support of years to come. Using it with the PS5 too would be a bonus.

I've got four Dualsense controllers and two of them have drift to the point where I don't use them. Which is fine until my wife and kids want to all play a family game of course. I refuse to spend money on new ones though as they shouldn't be broken in the space of a year (with fairly light use as well).

@nomither6

It’s not like Dualshock 4s were beacons of reliability either.

Yeah they didn’t drift often but they ate trigger springs just as fast as the Dualsense did.

@viktorcode

I should have done that last time I replaced the trigger springs in that controller.

Thanks for the reminder.

I enjoy taking things apart with my really nice toolkit (used for everything from phones to car audio systems). My friend broke a trigger spring and bought a new controller. I just took mine apart and put a Dualshock 4 spring in there.

My cost… that box of 100 springs was about 8 dollars. His cost, 70. Over a broken trigger spring.

@RobN

Yep, I've never had stick drift on ANY controller until the Switch and PS5.

My Switch left joycon drift is atrocious!

As for my Dualsense, my first one broke its right trigger after one day of trying out the haptic triggers. I did NOT aggressively pull on the trigger. I actually don't like the feature, but apparently the spring either broke or dislodged.

So I grab my second brand new Dualsense that was a backup or for co-op games. Right out of the box, pretty bad stick drift on the left analog stick.

I'm really getting tired of all the shoddy build quality of today's electronics.

Back button attachment will do just fine for me Sony, thanks. Love it on the DS4.

Having to replace joysticks for drift is only a solution to a problem Sony and every other mainstream console manufacture has created to keep perpetuating our use and discard culture. Nothing is made with any quality anymore because people are now conditioned to continually pay the lowest price for cheaply made products instead of paying a slightly higher premium price for something that will last 10x longer.

Hall effect style joysticks would likely cost max 10% more overall to include in these controllers and would last and be accurate for years longer than the current potentiometer style ones are.

The only reason they are not included is because it would eat into profits. rant