Are your DualSense sticks drifting?

[Johnny Blaze]

My right stick is drifting in Cold War only and it's driving me nuts. Astros playroom or Miles are absolutely fine.

 

[Solid slug]

I ran into this problem just now, and the entire thing was SUPER fucking weird. I'm posting here in case it somehow is able to help somebody out.

Some background:

I've had my PS5 since launch day, and have been using it regularly (3 or 4 times a week for games, an hour or so daily for streaming) since then. I have had no problems with Dualsense drifting, outside of ONE game, and that's Cyberpunk.

Note that I do not play FPS games at all, I made an exception for that one for some reason. Since I bought that game, it's had minor, irritating drift that did not show up in Demon's Souls or any of the PS4 games (Fallen Order, Control, a few others) I've played since then.

It's important to note that Cyberpunk has settings in-game to adjust inner and outer deadzones. No other game I've played since buying the PS5 does, since once again- I don't like FPS games and those are the ones that tend to have those settings.

Each update Cyberpunk has released has done *something* to the drift issue that causes me to adjust the deadzones again before the game is comfortably playable. It also crashed about once an hour, which would reset all of the game settings (deadzones included) back to default, which meant more adjusting the dead zones to make it playable. Again, drift did not show up anywhere else in any other games or applications. It was JUST cyberpunk.

I load up Cyberpunk again today, and the 1.06 update is there, downloading in the background. I have the game running with the 1.05 patch installed (it's fine) go and make myself a sandwich, come back, and reset the game and/or console (I can't recall which) to restart the game with 1.06 installed, hoping it will fix a number of irritating bugs already present.

On starting Cyberpunk with the 1.06 patch, the Dualsense goes haywire. V is sprinting off towards god knows what without me touching the controller, menus are unusable. There is insane controller drift in the game and the deadzone settings have been set to new defaults I didn't have them on, much like it did when the game crashed. I adjust the values to every possible combination to fix it, no dice this time. The Game is unplayable.

I exit out into the menus, the PS5 menu is freaking out, the cursor is leaping all over the place. Load up Fallen Order, same thing. The controller is unusable.

I start googling things that might help- compressed air, holding the sticks in, resetting the dualsense, turning the bluetooth off, resetting the PS5 back to default settings- most of this does not work, and what does work doesn't work for long. Inevitably the controller will begin freaking out in 5 minutes, render itself unusable even for menus, and I'm screwed. This appears to be a massively screwed controller out of nowhere, and up until today it was fine, with the exception of Cyberpunk which is buggy as all get out in any number of areas.

By now Target and Best Buy are closed, so I couldn't burn $70 on a new controller if I wanted to, so I'm trying pretty much anything I can think of to squeeze some utility out of this messed up controller until stores open up in the morning.

I'm going in and out of cyberpunk to test the controller, mostly because that game is the only one that has dead zones, and the First Person nature of the game makes it easy to notice when the camera starts drifting of it's own accord. Typically I'll try something (say, blowing it out with more compressed air, or manipulating the sticks), it will work fine for five minutes then one stick or the other will begin slightly then drastically drifting all over the place, inevitably rendering the controller unusable in-game or out of the game as the cursor rockets up to the top of the screen no matter what I do.

In the course of all that I try this-

I exit out of cyberpunk, and head into settings to turn off the controller (not the bluetooth, just the controller in the accessory settings.) I hold the sticks in for 30 seconds hoping for the best, then turn the controller back on using the PS button. It fixes the drift immediately (?) and I go back in the game. This fix worked two consecutive times for about 10 minutes before the drift sets in. On the third attempt when going back into Cyberpunk, before doing anything else I enter the settings, set the inner deadzone up at .47 (almost as high as it can go), and the outer to .60 (almost as low as it can go).

This time, it stays rock solid. Never begins drifting. I'm aiming the crosshairs in any number of spots and spinning the camera around to try to trigger the drift, and nothing. I head out of the game, into menus, into amazon and netflix- no drift, no problem.
Pop Fallen Order and Demon's Souls back in, no evidence of any drifting. Back into Cyberpunk, it's still rock solid.

I'm not sure what to make of this- I'm not blaming Cyberpunk per se for massively fucking up my controller for hours, but it looks like the Dualsense can be REALLY sensitive about dead zones and exceeding them even in one game just renders it totally unusable across the OS.

Click to shrink...

I have had the exact same issue. Stick drift that transfers to the dash and other games (cold war) alternative sticks also. I can only put it down to Cyberpunk. I'm going to try and find the deadzone settings on cyberpunk and see if that resolves the issue. Couldn't find them before I seen your post

 

[Solid slug]

If I even rest my thumb on the analogue stick it starts moving all sorts of crazy. Even after I put the pad down and don't touch it

 

[Onclemol]

My right stick started drifting while playing Borderlands 3 and Star Ocean 5 (lol).
The camera randomly pan up.
The issue is not permanent. Sometime I don't have the problem at all.

 

[Rivyn]

This is mostly related to the deadzone settings in a game not working as intended. Every controller has some sort of drift.
I remember RAGE 2 having this setting as well and reducing the deadzone to 0 made my right analog stick drift a little.

 

[Hopewell]

My dual sense's left stick is drifting a lot, it makes playing games pretty much impossible. Never happened to me on any other controller before.

 

[Manmademan]

I have had the exact same issue. Stick drift that transfers to the dash and other games (cold war) alternative sticks also. I can only put it down to Cyberpunk. I'm going to try and find the deadzone settings on cyberpunk and see if that resolves the issue. Couldn't find them before I seen your post

Click to shrink...

Its stayed fixed since I posted that without issue. It is definitely software based.

 

[Camp1nCarl]

Cold War and Warzone aiming is drifting upwards every 30 seconds or so now. It's making MP almost unplayable right now unfortunately... Not sure if it's a software or hardware issue. I haven't played CP2077 like others were having issues with

 

[chrisPjelly]

Shit, now my left stick is drifting. Has anybody from Canada gone through the repair process here?

 

[TLSLex]

Similar to what other people are describing, I've had issues with drift due to the deadzone but not on the PS5 - I've had these problems on PC. I use the dualsense with Steam - everything was fine until a few days ago when I noticed the mouse cursor randomly moving in one direction. This is because the right stick controls the mouse by default in Steam's controller settings when a game isn't in focus.

I managed to fix it by adjusting the deadzone in the steam controller settings, but I don't know if there's a wider issue with the dualsense sticks not "centering" themselves appropriately after some time.

On the PS5 I've had no issues so far though.

 

[endlessflood]

I'm now having the right stick drift issue in all games I've tried (PS5: Spider-Man Remastered and Miles Morales, PS4: Red Dead Online and GTA Online) where the right stick dramatically forces an up input.

Trying to decide whether to buy a second DualSense (was planning to eventually) or just get by with a DualShock 4 during the warranty repair turnaround (since I've finished all of my PS5 games now).

 

[LavaBadger]

Well, this happened to me with my left stick the other day. Was bad enough that not touching the controller, my character in Ghost of Tsushima would start walking to the side. Was bad and getting worse for two or so days, enough that I looked into the repair and actually ended up ordering a second controller.

Then miraculously, it had just kind of stopped. Haven't opened the second controller yet as a result, but I assume it will come back in time. Very weird.

 

[Psychotron]

My right stick has an odd feel to it when moving left or right. About half way from center to the side, I can feel a strange bit of resistance that builds then drops off. Now that I've noticed it my OCD is going nuts, because I can feel it in the stick.

 

[FlashFlooder]

No stick drifts, but I do have sticky buttons on both my controllers which is very frustrating.

Click to shrink...

I have a sticky X button on 1 of my 2, and it drives me nuts.

 

[artsi]

I got this problem today, right stick can jank upwards randomly, it's very irritating.
One moment I'm trying to shoot a zombie in RE3, and then suddenly I shoot the ceiling instead.

Never before had any problems with Playstation controllers.

 

[BeI]

I don't have drift yet, but I wish my sticks were more loose. I went back to my DS4 and it feels so much easier to make small movements because the sticks are more loose. I can't tell if that's due to years of use or the Dualsense has more stiff sticks in general.

Does anyone actually know if that's the case? It's really bugging me that my DS4 actually has better analog control than my fancy new Dualsense.

 

[boogerbrain51]

Nah but my controller sounds like a clock.

 

[Loud Wrong]

I thought the drift in Demons Souls was a bug, but then it happened in Destiny on the left stick and on the right stick in another game. I returned it to Target.

 

[Border]

Another reason that you should be able to use the Dual Shock with PS5 games.

 

[Loud Wrong]

Another reason that you should be able to use the Dual Shock with PS5 games.

Click to shrink...

I would love if they added support for DS4. To me it's a much better controller, and it's a big reason why I play multiplats elsewhere now.

 

[Kittenz]

this is my exact case. It was so annoying.
however this only happened to me in Demons Souls. I 100% Miles Morales and it never happened. I noticed it DS it wouldn't happen if I had a full charge but after an hour it'd start up again.

Click to shrink...

Was gonna say this about the charge. When mine started to die the first time, I was like "Kratos, where are you going?" Then I realized I needed a charge.

As a primarily Xbox player I gotta say. The charge seems really short compared to how long a pair of rechargeables last in an Xbox controller. Doesn't matter to me as I have a USB port IN my chair. But still.

 

[Swearing.circle]

Got drift now. It was insane in Cyberpunk but I thought it was just the game itself but i've now noticed it when playing Immortals. So that's fun.

 

[Camells]

My Dualsense that came with my unit had a lot of drift on the right stick got in contact with Sony's repair service and sent my faulty controller in December they sent me a new one yesterday.

 

[Euler007]

Nope, but then again none of my joycons are drifting either.

 

[Helix]

nope not yet. brb knocking on all wooden furniture in my apartment.

 

[for the nguyen]

I notice drifting when I have the map open in MW: Warzone.

 

[MrFox]

What's the difference between drift and a stick not being able to maintain its dead zone? I was under the assumption that the sticks get "loose" after a while or something like that.

Click to shrink...

It's mostly the same thing. Historically the most frequently reported stick defect is a deformed metal casing or mechanism of the stick, which causes the dead zone to shift around because the mechanism becomes physically slack. Sometimes it's just degradation of the pots contacts near the center position, either from years of use or liquid spill, humidity, etc...

Standard sized controllers from all companies use the same integrated stick part from ALPS (RKJXKxxxx series) which didn't change much in the last two decades, from the least expensive controllers you can find to the $200 "pro" controllers. That includes all first party brands and most third party brands. So whenever someone points to a specific brand or model being more or less reliable, it's likely bad statistics. Same part, same problems, same reasons. Exception being portables (including joycon) which use a completely different model which is very slim and logically needs much less force to bend it until it develops drift issues.

WHY DRIFT HAPPEN: The ALPS stick have a known physical limitation where pushing very hard on L3/R3 while the stick is fully deflected can bend it enough to starts developing a drift in that direction. It's creating a cantilever force that bends the metal of the casing/mechanism. It happens on one axis more than the other, which axis is the weakest depends on which orientation it's used on the controller. I think ifixit said PS5 have more chance of developing Y axis drift, xbox and ps4 are more sensitive to X axis. Or the reverse, I don't remember.

HOW TO AVOID DEVELOPING DRIFT: Never press down hard on L3/R3 while the stick is fully deflected. This recommendation goes for ANY brand of controllers, including third party $200 pro controllers. You'll notice a lot of people never had stick drift for a decade, either because they don't play games that continuously require L3/R3 to be pressed while it's at full deflection, or they are not using a lot of force when doing so.

HOW TO SOLVE DRIFT: If out of warranty, the stick part needs to be replaced, which requires some soldering skills. The replacement ALPS sticks cost about $3 or $4. The cheap knock-off on ebay/alibaba are no good, better use the real ALPS part. I saw people on the internet saying it's possibly to just bend it back into shape with pliers.

 

[Musubi]

Started to notice one of my sticks drifting playing Hitman now. Its not terrible but its there.

 

[Phellps]

I have a pair of DualSense, no issues so far. Never had this problem with the DS4 either, for that matter.

 

[mnemonicj]

Imagine controller drift shit still being a thing in 2021.

 

[Azerach]

Had pretty bad drifting earlier. Opened the controller and applied some lube to the sticks. No drifting since, hopefully it's fixed for good.

 

[HardRojo]

I wish PlayStation consoles had a calibrating tool to detect this issue easily. I haven't had drifting issues with any PlayStation controller so far, but it'd be nice to be able to check on the console itself through a tool similar to what the Switch has.

 

[Musubi]

Had pretty bad drifting earlier. Opened the controller and applied some lube to the sticks. No drifting since, hopefully it's fixed for good.

Click to shrink...

I think mine might just be like physically damaged or something. I have two controllers and the right stick on the one feels just a tad looser than the other one.

 

[j7vikes]

Zero issues but I feel for anyone who has issues with anything gaming wise. Been there and it sucks. OP send that in to Sony and hopefully the replacement is like mine which is issue free.

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

Not cool, towards the end of the generation, one of my ds4s started drifting. My joycons, replacement joycons and other new joycons drifted so much, I bought an 8bitdo controller. I've not gamed on my Ps5 much comparatively to my XSX but this sucks. Controller build quality has to improve from the standard it appears to be at now.

 

[neptunez]

Ah man, is this realty going to be a thing?

I hope Sony is helpful if it is and that they can rectify it in production

 

[ElMexiMerican]

Had issues mildly with some games a few weeks ago (AC:V, Watch Dogs Legion). Was playing Hitman 3 the other day and the drift on my right stick gets worse the longer I play during a session. I may start with 0 issues but after a while, my camera is constantly shifting down (the camera is inverted btw).

 

[Afrikan]

Yes. The dualsense that came with my PS5 had a right stick that would give random inputs when it wasn't even being touched. Like the game camera would randomly pan down quickly.

It didn't seem like a deadzone issue. It seemed like the sensors were messed up.

Started happening about a week and a half after I started using it

Click to shrink...

You're experience is wrong!

But joking aside, have you updated the controller? There have been a few updates since launch.

These controllers are expensive so I hope you get a new replacement from Sony.

 

[SirDante]

Not sure about drifting, but my left stick was not registering moving foward when I pushed it sometimes. First noticed it in Doom Eternal, I would push to move foward and the character would move like I'm barely pushing the stick. Contacted Sony, they sent me a new DualSense. Had the new one for a week, so far so good.

 

[KyngKee]

Just noticed mine doing this posting Ghosts of Tsushima. Probably have less than 25hrs total play time on my PS5 so far. Is there no fix...

 

[AgeEighty]

Not all the time, but there are times when my DualSense's right stick doesn't return enough to the perfect center point to avoid drifting. It seems like the sensitivity is so high that it only has to be off by a tiny amount to drift.

 

[Holyoneturtle]

I'll just repeat what I said in a similar thread from earlier today/yesterday. I've always had drift issues on ps4 and was surprised/angry that in 2 months I had it on ps5.

 

[Agent_ShortBus]

Yeah and it varies on severity based on the game. Wanted a second controller but I'm gonna wait for a while. Maybe after they get out different colors.

 

[Windy_Smile]

Starngely enough it's bad on Warzone ( right stick drifting down and left). But I don't notice it on Assasin's creed or Astro's Playroom, Bugsnax, RE: Maiden.

 

[Windy_Smile]

Sorry, DP

 

[Radical Ein]

I just tried calling Sony about my drifting left analog stick and after going through all the troubleshooting, he basically tried convincing me that it was a system software issue that would be fixed in an update and that was that.

I get flustered easily on the phone with customer service so I didn't put up a big fight, but afterward I took a video of the issue and tweeted at them, and I'll be calling back in the morning because this is BS.

 

[Beast780]

I also had to replace my DualSense because of the sticking X button, but no drift.

 

[Erikun]

My Dualsense is drifting on the right stick. It'll randomly start going to the left every few minutes. It's happened to me in Warzone, Hitman 3, Yakuza Like a Dragon, Cyberpunk and a couple others. I sent it in to Sony Japan, and they sent it back after two weeks saying there was nothing wrong. The controller was still synced to my machine, so I don't know how they even checked it. They obviously never tried it with another unit. Their service was terrible. I had to explain to them three separate times (two in writing) what was happening to it. A friend of mine also has a drifting issue with the right stick and it's going up all the time.

 

[Soap]

So I am bumping this to say my right analog is drifting up like crazy. It had been a minimal issue is some games, but it is awful is assassins creed and hitman 3 now.

 

[endlessflood]

I sent it in to Sony Japan, and they sent it back after two weeks saying there was nothing wrong. The controller was still synced to my machine, so I don't know how they even checked it. They obviously never tried it with another unit.

Click to shrink...

I don't want to hear this: my DualSense is finally being shipped back to me today. If they haven't touched it I'll be furious.