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Some people are already experiencing Steam Deck drift

These are the same alps analogue units every other controller on the market uses with different caps. The Steam Deck is the same price as a Switch, there were sure to have been corners cut to do that. At least these are easily replaceable, even the units themselves are easy to remove from the board if you have the tools.

That being said, I thought the Steam Deck used capacitive caps on the sticks I assumed to prevent drift from happening in games. The sticks can tell if you're using them or not. No thumb should mean no input so in-game if you aren't using the stick it should read 0X, 0Y.


If you've ever replaced a thumbstick, you might notice something extra here: there's a little red wire connecting the top of the thumbstick to the circuit board down below. That's for the capacitive touch sensor in the top of the thumbstick—so the Steam Deck knows if your thumb is resting there. (It could be anybody's thumb resting there, but you can't expect your Steam Deck to know that. It's just checking for thumbs.
 
What's up with modern gaming devices and drifting? I don't remember this being an issue in the past.

Hell, my Gamecube controllers still work like a charm.
 
You'd think we have like 20 years to figure out and fix this stuff. I guess buying a new one just makes more money.
 
These are the same alps analogue units every other controller on the market uses with different caps. The Steam Deck is the same price as a Switch, there were sure to have been corners cut to do that. At least these are easily replaceable, even the units themselves are easy to remove from the board if you have the tools.
Switch sticks were easy to replace, and no assembly required.
 
This is not what you want to hear but at least if it happens now everyone will be in their warranty period. Doesn't bode well long term though.
 
What's up with modern gaming devices and drifting? I don't remember this being an issue in the past.

Hell, my Gamecube controllers still work like a charm.
I've had controller stick issues on a gazillion xbox controllers.

Like, when you move the stick forward, it made a pop.

Others where they grinded fast, and the one I use now says squeek when I move it around super annoying.

Peripherals gets more expensive and gets worse durability and quality check.
 
It is a design flaw like every other stick on the market. Going to have to live with it.
 
It uses the same technology all other modern controllers use, this is expected. There is no magical solution.
 
I feel like the same people who complain and get sore thumbs playing videogames, especially fighting games, are the same people getting stick drift. This hasn't happened to me. Ever. Be gentle with the controller lol
 
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I feel like the same people who complain and get sore thumbs playing videogames, especially fighting games, are the same people getting stick drift. This hasn't happened to me. Ever. Be gentle with the controller lol
It has nothing to do with this. You can play for one hour gently and get drift or slam the sticks for 2 years and be perfectly fine. Alps potentiometers are just completely unreliable.
 
Rule of gaming...

Never buy a launch console... Just wait 1 or 2 years later.

The kind of issues always existed it.

So... Its normal.... But anormal was Xbox 360... Since that day I learn to wait the launch consoles.
 
It has nothing to do with this. You can play for one hour gently and get drift or slam the sticks for 2 years and be perfectly fine. Alps potentiometers are just completely unreliable.

Hmm, I doubt that. If you tend to put a lot of pressure on the sticks, it has nothing to do with it? I guess I've been really lucky for 37 years of gaming.
 
What's up with modern gaming devices and drifting? I don't remember this being an issue in the past.

Hell, my Gamecube controllers still work like a charm.
Drifting has always happen since analog. The Switch joycons were much higher than the normal failure rate.

Other than that, the difference is social media. One person got drift on PS2, no one hears about it. One person gets drift on Steam Deck and posts it online, it suddenly sounds like the failure rate is absurdly high.
 
Hmm, I doubt that. If you tend to put a lot of pressure on the sticks, it has nothing to do with it? I guess I've been really lucky for 37 years of gaming.
Drift is not related to pressure at all unless we're talking about the L3 / R3 buttons breaking which is a different thing. The sticks have an unreliable potentiometer whose function is very easily disrupted by dirt buildup over time or its moving parts simply reaching their end of life which isn't very long to begin with. And by dirt I don't mean people eating doritos, we're talking about tiny dirt particles that end up obstructing the sensor.
 
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i was told that the Deck would absolutely not be prone to drifting!!

it happens to all controllers. joycons/pro, deck sticks, dualshock/sense, and xbox one/series.
 
Drifting has always happen since analog. The Switch joycons were much higher than the normal failure rate.

Other than that, the difference is social media. One person got drift on PS2, no one hears about it. One person gets drift on Steam Deck and posts it online, it suddenly sounds like the failure rate is absurdly high.
I don't know man. I have 3 cube controllers, two of them from the year the console came out, and they work perfectly. They have also endured my friends coming home to play a thousand times.

Out of my two PS4 controllers, one of them has a bit of drift, and the same happened with my joy cons.

I mean yeah, this issue coule be nothing new and maybe I was just lucky until now... But I still think the issue has gotten worse over the years.
 
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I don't know man. I have 3 cube controllers, two of them from the year the console came out, and they work perfectly. They have also endured my friends coming home to play a thousand times.

Out of my two PS4 controllers, one of them has a bit of drift, and the same happened with my joy cons.

I mean yeah, this issue coule be nothing new and maybe I was just lucky until now... But I still think the issue has gotten worse over the yearsn
I've had basically every console since Atari 2600. I've had drift 4 times - ALL joycons. Their has always been drift, it's just not common outside of whatever happened with Nintendo this gen.

I have several PS4 and Xbox One controllers. Not one of them got drift.
 
Had mine for 3 full months and haven't experienced it.

Defects happen.

I never experienced drift but its clearly a real problem for many people.
But yeah, Valve had to cut many corners to bring the price down, IMHO they should had cut out the rumble and touch-pads in favor of hall effect sticks and better IPS panel.
 
I never experienced drift but its clearly a real problem for many people.
But yeah, Valve had to cut many corners to bring the price down, IMHO they should had cut out the rumble and touch-pads in favor of hall effect sticks and better IPS panel.
It's a very real problem; but it generally is either something that happens right away (defect) or something that happens after quite a long time of heavy use (to be expected, wearing down.)

It just needs to be talked about that way, and people should try to quantify the problem as well.. like there is likely some data somewhere about the average time it takes a controller to experience stick drift.

Every single stick based controller has components from a very small amount of suppliers, and none of them are perfect in this area. There isn't a single device/controller not effected by it.. so "news articles" saying "steam decks get it" are rather pointless.
 
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hoping since they are so easily replacable we get some higher quality alternatives.. I've done a LOT of Nintendo switch repairs for people, hopefully I can get these parts just as easily.
 
What's up with modern gaming devices and drifting? I don't remember this being an issue in the past.

Hell, my Gamecube controllers still work like a charm.

old games had extremely big dead zones that is why. nowadays it is normal for developers to either give you the option to change the dead zone size or to have a really small one as the standard.
 
What's up with modern gaming devices and drifting? I don't remember this being an issue in the past.

Hell, my Gamecube controllers still work like a charm.
In the past games had huge dead-zones. Nowadays, especially shooters have very small dead-zones, so drifting will happen more often. My PS3 controller thumbsticks are loose as hell yet no game i own has drift. If i was able to connect my PS3 constroller to my PS5 i bet alot of games will be drifting.

Console manufactors should either give an option on the controller menu to increase the dead-zones, or come out with a more reliable tech for the sticks that allow for very small dead-zones without drifting.
 
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Most controllers have some form of stick drift - if the game/menu have an above 10% deadzone, no one will hardly ever experience it.

This is a handy little online tool to see how much stick drift your controller have:
 
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So what if they're easily replaceable? So are the switch joycons! And Nintendo in the US replaces them for free. It's still a pain in the ass and should not happen, especially not in the first week!!

I did send my joycon in a year ago and it works perfectly now. It was still annoying and I'm guessing I'll need to have it fixed again in the future. Completely unacceptable.
 
But but Lord Gabe personelly delivered the Steam Craps.

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I have only had game breaking stick drift on an Original Xbox S pad after years of usage, and the controller took a hard fall to cause it. It's still waiting to be repaired, in pieces, from back in the aught years.

Since then I have had debouncing issues with 2 Logitech G gaming mice, the Hyperkin Duke controller that came out a few years ago has both of it's sticks drifting with little use, and my dog just ran by with one of my shoes in his mouth.

Seems like gaming isn't worth it anymore. It is time to cancel the Steam Deck order and start playing Wordle exclusively. It's not like I'll actually buy replacement sticks for Deck if I get it. The PC games in my backlog will remain in my backlog.

You're dead to me, Gaben. I need to buy new shoes now.

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And that my friends is the reason I never get any console at release.

I'll let some people test if it is good for me. So I can get a better version with a smaller price.
 
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