Gamers complaining of DualSense controller drift as law firm starts circling

It’s not unusual that when a new consumer electronics product launches that it will experience bugs of some description. Sometimes it will be software related and can be fixed with a software patch while other times it might necessitate a return for a hardware fix --in extreme cases it might result in a product recall. Although Sony’s PS5 gaming console has launched to overwhelmingly positive reviews, it has had its fair share of glitches.

We’ve seen reports of discs failing to eject properly right through to users having their consoles bricked for one reason or another. A number of the early glitches have been patched with software updates but it now appears that there could be another emerging issue with the DualSense controller. The same US law firm that filed a class-action lawsuit against Nintendo for the notorious controller drift issue plaguing its Joy-Con controller is now investigating a similar issue with Sony’s otherwise excellent DualSense controller.

The firm has set up a questionnaire page for PS5 owners who might be experiencing controller drift. For the uninitiated, controller drift is when the controller will register an input from the user even though the controller isn’t being touched. We’ve even seen this issue ourselves on the Xbox Elite Controller Series 2 which is also subject to a lawsuit. Nintendo tried and failed to address the issue with firmware updates but couldn’t get on top of it. It remains to be seen how widespread the problem actually is and whether Sony can address it with a software patch, or whether controllers will need to be fixed or replaced altogether.