A new video of disassembling the PS5 DualSense controller states that it has a life of “417 hours” until the stick drift begins.
Those who were lucky enough to get their hands on a PS5 must have noticed that not everything is sugar and rainbows with Sony’s powerful new console. Some players reported that the dreaded stick drift phenomenon showed its ugly face, severely affecting the gaming experience.
This led some YouTube channels to revisit the initial disassembly videos of the PS5’s DualSense controller to see why this could be the case.
The YouTube channel iFixit recently uploaded a new video to explore DualSense, with the results pointing to the controller having only about 417 hours of use before it starts to take effect on the controller’s joysticks.
The video shares a view of the controller and gives us some details of ALPS, which is the manufacturer of the joystick parts, and the results point to the expected life of the handles is 2,000,000 cycles and clicking on the analog control will last about 500,000 cycles.
What exactly does that mean? Well, the video above does some analysis on these cycles and translates them into something a little more digestible. According to iFixit’s analysis using Call of Duty: Warzone as a test, this could mean that a controller has about 417 hours until the operating life cycle of the handles reaches its maximum.
Putting this in perspective, if you played your PS5 console for just two hours a day, you would have about seven months of using your controller before you start to notice the skid. This is something that simply happens with the hardware of this joystick, because, over time, the general use of the controller will wear out the potentiometers, which are usually what causes the deviation to begin to occur.
Of course, the numbers above will be different for each person, depending on the games you play. It is also important to note that something like Call of Duty: Warzone, which requires a lot of movement and clicks, will be an intense workout on your controller, especially if you have been playing for many hours straight.
The most worrying part about all of this, however, is that those who watched the PS5 controller’s initial disassembly videos knew that this was already the case.
A previous disassembly video from iFixit clearly pointed out that the joysticks inside DualSense were the same as those found on the PS4 controller, using technology that is also used on Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. All of these controllers have experienced some form of joystick deviation over the years, especially the PS4 DualShock and Nintendo’s JoyCons.
If you happen to be experiencing the joystick drift with your DualSense controller, the channel lists some options that you have opened for you. First, you can try to fix it yourself, send it in for repair or you can try to speak to Sony if the controller is still under warranty. If none of these options work, however, you will have to purchase a new DualSense.
If you’re still trying to find a new console, here’s where to buy a PS5.