Here’s Why PS5 Joysticks Drift (and Why They’ll Only Get Worse)

Mere months have passed since the PS5’s hotly anticipated launch, and already there’s a class-action lawsuit brewing over joystick drift on Sony’s high-tech DualSense controllers. Who could have seen this coming? Well, as it turns out, everyone. Everyone should have seen this coming. Because for all its exciting new tech, the DualSense uses off-the-shelf joystick hardware with a long history of predictable, preventable issues. And now we’ve investigated those issues in excruciating detail. Sony isn’t the only company to use off-the-shelf joystick modules, but, like Microsoft, they’ve made it difficult to repair this consumable component. Joysticks have a known life expectancy—it’s listed right in a product sheet from the manufacturer. In this video, we head back inside a DualSense controller to see what is failing, and how. You can read more about joystick drift in our blog post on :