PS5 DualSense teardown videos warned us about stick drift months ago

A new teardown video of the PS5 DualSense controller has claimed it has a life of "417 hours" until stick drift kicks in.

Those who have been lucky enough to get their hands on a PS5 might have noticed that it's not all sugar and rainbows with Sony's powerful new console. Some players have been reporting that the dreaded stick drift phenomenon has reared its ugly head, severely impacting the gaming experience.

This has prompted some YouTube channels to revisit initial teardown videos of the PS5's DualSense controller to see why this could be the case.

YouTube channel iFixit uploaded a new video recently to explore the DualSense, with the results pointing to the controller only have about 417 hours of use until it begins to have an effect on the controller's joysticks.

The video shares a look at the controller and gives us some details from ALPS, whoc is the manufacturer of the joystick parts, and the results point towards the expected operation life for the sticks is 2,000,000 cycles and clicking in the analogue stick will last about 500,000 cycles.

What exactly does this mean? Well, the video above does some analysis on these cycles and translates them into something a bit more digestible. According to iFixit's analysis using Call of Duty: Warzone as a test, this could mean that a controller has about 417 hours until the operating lifecycle of the sticks will hit its maximum.

Putting this further into perspective, if you were to play your PS5 console for just two hours a day, you will get about seven months of use out of your controller before you begin to notice drifting. This is something that just happens with this joystick hardware as, over time, the general use of the controller will wear down the potentiometers which are generally what causes the drift to take start taking place.

Of course, the numbers above will be different for everyone depending on the games you play. It is also important to note that something like Call of Duty: Warzone, which requires a lot of moving and clicking, is going to be an intense workout on your controller, especially if you're playing it for many hours at a time.

The most worrying part about all of this, however, is that those who watched the initial teardown videos of the PS5 controller knew that this was already the case.
A previous teardown video from iFixit pointed out clearly that the joysticks inside the DualSense were the same found in the PS4 controller, using tech that's also used in the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. All of these controllers have experienced some form of joystick drift over the years, most notably the PS4 DualShock and Nintendo's JoyCons.

If you happen to be experiencing joystick drift with your DualSense controller, the channel lists a few options you have open to you. First, you can either try to fix it yourself, send it away to be fixed, or you can try talking to Sony if the controller is still under warranty. If none of these options work, however, then you might just have to buy a brand new DualSense.

If you're still trying to find a new console, here's where to buy a PS5.