If you own or intend to own a PlayStation 5 at some point, you must have recently found reasons to ask yourself an important question: How often will I have to spend $ 70 on new controllers because old ones started to lose control for no reason?
Ideally, if you are planning a new controller, the ideal situation is because you want … well, another controller! Like, one more than you had before. But recently, several problems reported by users with DualSense controllers have made it clear that, at least with the PS5, you may have reason to consider replacing the ones you own more often than expected. As more reports arrive about the DualSense diversion and class action is approaching, you may be wondering how this problem will affect you and what to do if you encounter it.
What is DualSense drift?
What is essentially happening is quite simple: something is wrong with some DualSense controllers, where the controller is recording inputs from the left or right stick that are not actually being inserted by the player. This November 26 Reddit topic – just a few weeks after the console launch in the United States – shows the problem quite obviously in Destiny 2. The first-person camera is spinning on its own, although the player doesn’t touch the right stick in whole.
The problem is not limited to Destination 2, nor to the right handle. Other users posted about issues in Call of Duty, Immortals: Phoenix Rising, Watch Dogs: Legion, Apex Legends, Spider-Man: Miles Morales and (in the comments on many of these posts) Cyberpunk 2077. Some also mentioned that the problem also affects the left analog, as well as the right.
These are just a few examples, but for months, since the launch of the PS5, people have been posting on social platforms about the same problem. Some have postulated that it may be a problem with a particular game (a non-zero number of drift issues with Cyberpunk 2077 appears to have been specific to the game’s bug list at launch) or that it may be connected to a console update. But generally, the consensus is that the problem is internal to the PS5 controller hardware and is not easily resolved by swapping games, downloading a patch, or uninstalling something already downloaded.
Who is receiving the DualSense drift?
The drift of DualSense is not a new problem, although it has made headlines only recently due to the collective action process. The above examples of reported deviations date from the time the console was first released, with many other posts on the PlayStation and PS5 subreddits complaining about the problem since then.
So far, the DualSense drift does not seem as widespread as Nintendo’s Joy-Con drift problem – in an IGN poll in February, 10% of respondents said they experienced DualSense drift, while a similar survey in May. 2020 saw 72% of respondents say they experienced the Joy-Con drift. However, it is significant enough that a significant number of people are accessing social media – which implies that there are many more experiences that have not posted about it on the internet. And it is very possible that, as with Joy-Cons, we will see the DualSense drift problem become more widespread over time – a recent disassembly of iFixit has estimated that controller parts may start to wear out after 400 hours of play. It is a reasonable possibility that the average PS5 owner will be able to find it with at least one controller at some point in the console’s life.
Can the DualSense bypass be corrected?
Specifically, the drift seems to be connected to the same problems that affect other video game controllers that have also had problems with the drift, including previous PlayStation controllers, Xbox controllers (including, yes, the Elite Series 2) and Nintendo’s Joy-Cons. The drift, experts say, is not a matter of a specific manufacturer or controller manufacturer sending substandard technology, but it does appear to be a specific problem of how modern controller hardware is generally designed. The demolitions suggested that the problem could be connected to the controller’s pots, internal springs or internal contaminants.
So, what can be done to fix the DualSense bypass? In case the drift is a peculiarity of dust or software problems, you can follow the steps here to see if that solves the problem. Other than that, several users reported having sought Sony technical support. At this time, Sony is willing to repair or replace the controllers, as long as they are still under warranty, but owners will have to pay shipping to get the controller to Sony for this repair, as well as providing the box – and may take some weeks to send it there, ask to repair it and get it back.
For now, any new DualSense controller purchased must be covered by the warranty – but eventually this will no longer be the case. Currently, there is no established procedure on what to do about DualSense bypass if your warranty has expired, nor is there a protocol on what to do if you buy a used controller with bypass, unless the store where you purchased it has a policy of return under which it is covered.
Will Sony do anything about the DualSense drift?
The pressure of pending lawsuits may eventually impact how users will experience DualSense drift in the future. A class action suit filed against Sony earlier this month over this issue criticizes Sony for allegedly releasing the controller knowing that it was a problem, and not providing a more effective repair process for the problem. Notably, agreeing to Sony’s terms and conditions during PS5 setup incidentally obliges PS5 owners to resolve issues like this through arbitration rather than a legal battle, but the recent class action was made possible by a claimant who sent a letter to Sony opting out of arbitration, which seems to have worked. The forced arbitration clause may make it more difficult to attract people to other lawsuits, but as awareness spreads, we can see more challenges – especially considering how many lawsuits Nintendo is facing over the same issue almost four years after Switch’s launched.
It is also important to note that deviation may not be the only problem with the Sony controller. Some users are reporting that DualSense’s adaptive triggers have been broken, with users describing a “snap” that results in a trigger with no response or decreased sensitivity with repeated use. This problem also appears to be covered by the guarantee and is therefore subject to the same process as the diversion, but depending on how widespread it becomes over time, it is possible that we will see this escalate to the courts along with the diversion.
Given that both the drift problems and the malfunction of the adaptive trigger appear to be intrinsically linked to current control technology, it seems unlikely that Sony is just sitting on a magical solution that it refuses to implement. Much more likely, it is simply too expensive to manufacture controllers with any secret ingredient they need to avoid diversion altogether – a cost that would inevitably be passed on to customers. It is potentially more profitable to simply handle the lawsuits as they arise and, apparently, to discourage most of them with arbitration clauses.
However, with sufficient pressure, Sony may need to set up a more streamlined process for repairing, repairing or replacing the controllers. It took more than two years for Nintendo to set up this process, but in the United States it will now replace or repair Joy-Cons drifting completely for free (including shipping) in just a few weeks. Nintendo even implemented an online queuing system when COVID-19 slowed down its operations at the repair center, essentially allowing customers to hold their controllers for as long as possible before the company was ready to receive and deliver them on time skillful. Microsoft, meanwhile, has extended the warranty on its Elite Series 2 controllers from 90 days to one year in response to concerns about deviations in its own controllers, aligning it with Sony’s one-year warranty.
Given the circumstances, it seems likely that Sony will set up a more convenient process in less time than Nintendo, simply because of complaints about the drift being so widespread across multiple controllers. For now, simply dealing with warranty issues has been enough for Sony to survive, but what will happen in a year when and if the problems are widespread enough that consumers are complaining about having to spend $ 70 a year, per controller, just to have a working device? After all, that was one of the reasons why Nintendo has endured the weight of the bad press on drift for so long: the problem was widespread, but it also echoed in two controllers per system instead of just one, which means expensive replacements for quantities unworthy of Switch owners every year.
Ultimately, what game companies choose to do about controller diversion is likely to be decided over a long period of time, based on the pressure of user complaints, in the courts and the financial feasibility of repairing or replacing the controllers that have problems. For now, if you own a PS5, your best bet for mitigating costly controller replacements is to cancel Sony’s arbitration clause as soon as possible, report any controller issues through Sony technical support as soon as you notice them for take advantage of any repair or replacement services they offer and be sure to test or verify the refund policy for any used controllers that you may purchase in the future.
Rebekah Valentine is an IGN reporter. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.