Are you suffering from How the PlayStation 5 DualSense controller worksAnother teardown may have revealed why it keeps happening.
A new video from iFixit – an experienced channel tearing apart technology and exploring how it works for years – shows a PlayStation 5 DualSense teardown that reveals why the new pad may be doomed to deviate.
iFixit claims that PlayStation, Nintendo and Xbox controllers have “a long history of predictable, preventable problems” due to the standard joystick hardware in their pads.
As can be seen in the video below, the DualShock 4, the Xbox One, and Xbox One Elite controllers can “easily exceed their lifespan in just over 400 hours of game time.”
As any dedicated gamer will tell you, that’s not very long at all for a pad that will cost you $ 69.99 / £ 59.99.
iFixit dives into an information sheet from the joystick component manufacturer – a company called ALPS – that indicates that the expected life of a joystick would be around 2,000,000 cycles, with the joystick ‘click’ lasting as little as 500,000 cycles.
This is because the potentiometer (a three-terminal resistor with a sliding or rotating contact that allows the joystick to move freely) wears out with repeated use, and because the spring-loaded mechanism that centers the joystick begins to stretch and deform with consistent use. .
According to the iFixit analysis of a standard Call of Duty: Warzone game, this means you will get about 417 hours of gameplay from the sticks before the performance starts to diminish.
As VGC notes, “If a PS5 player were to use his console for two hours a day, he would technically exceed the expected life of his controller in 7 months.”
So what can you do when your path begins to show the telltale signs of drift? Watch the video embedded above – it gives clear and precise instructions on how to fix your pad and keep it in good working order.
“After this research, we find it bizarre that console makers don’t consider joysticks as consumable parts and design them so that they can be easily replaced,” iFixit concludes. “No device capable of a finite number of actions, especially one that lives next to so much pollution and is so often abused, can maintain perfect performance forever.”
Class-action lawsuits are ongoing in several countries around the world against both Sony and Nintendo regarding the “ significant, serious, and hidden flaws ” underlying controller drift issues.
Our own Alex Donaldson also notes that the pad’s battery life isn’t quite what you’d expect from a modern kit either, despite the controller being one of the best he’s ever used.