Don't Panic, Valve Has Already Resolved Steam Deck's Supposed Switch-Like "Drift" Issues

A hardware issue isn't as "fast" to fix. Let's see how they handle when the sticks begin to actually drift due to wear and tear.

Cant really say much since the joycon drift is not a bug but a mechanical issue, though it doesn't excuse the OLED model not having it fixed.

2 clearly different issues but people will hate where they see fit. One's a software issue while the other is a hardware issue.

I'm not defending Nintendo BTW as I've had to fix well over 10 drift issues on my joycons.

@Spoony_Tech

I get that you can't patch a mechanical issue. But the Switch is 5 years old and Nintendo is still shipping defective units. That's worthy of all the hate Nintendo gets over the issue.

NintenDoomed fandom foaming at the mouth again. Again show the documented drifts.

Yes. Now I have to get one of these.

@cleveland124 Oh they deserve the hate for sure. I've been all over them for this issue going back to 2018 when little was still know and many were saying it's a user problem. I'm just tired of complaining for 3 years straight with no solution. I enjoy my Switch and fix my own Joycons when they drift. It literally costs me about $2 a joycon.

I had a deadzone issue when I had my DualSense connected to my laptop and it gave me a minor heart attack until I realised it wasn’t drift 😂

You want a good response and you got one. Still there's no proof that it permanently fix the issue but good on them for making the quick response so to calm people down even though the issue still exist. People just love to rip Nintendo that's all even though stick drift is a common issue on all platforms.

@Rika_Yoshitake

This is why they made it super easy to remove the back and replace the thumb sticks. Battery glue looks like it's gonna require a professional repair outlet to avoid a lithium fire or screen crack though..

@cleveland124 … so what’s your opinion on the Xbox and DualSense controllers that are experiencing drift? I don’t think any device is going to immune to this issue.

@nessisonett traded in a PS5 controller a couple of weeks ago, apparently there’s a massive defect within those controllers. One of mine suffered from it, but I would not have noticed it either. The right analog stick was not responsive to register. He pulled out another controller they had taken in earlier to show the difference. They get buyback more PS5 controllers with damaged analog sticks than Xbox ones. The company doesn’t claim it’s broken, but takes a $7.00 service charge out of your trade credit for it. Blew my mind.

@Rika_Yoshitake like the switch? Lol

Good on valve. Joy con sticks are cheap and easy to fix yourself, but it still doesn’t excuse drift being a issue.

Also when did Nintendo life become a steam deck site. This has nothing to do with the switch or Nintendo.

Steam Deck has Drift
Pre-order cancelled

It's ok, we fixed it
Pre-order back on again.
😜
Seriously, pretty funny all these love/hate headlines.

Bait n Switch
😁

@Freek
I know, if someone actually did that wouldn’t they be getting their deck in 2023 instead of 2022.

See? I told you Valve would fix it. lol

"Valve does what Nintendon't, fix stuff"

LOL ok. I understand nintendo not fixing the joycon issue, we have been dealing with this issue for a long time, so I'm not defending them whatsoever but, Valve just had to updated it to fix it, its not like they needed to go back and actually fix/re-design the joy-stick, there two different issues.

And how do we know if valve will be that quick to fix the problem if drift really starts going on?

I suspected deadzone for this, since it was only right analogs being affected.

Right analogs typically have smaller deadzones. If it's too small for the distribution of errors after snapback this can happen.

Good they got this sorted.

A console being Switch like is a pretty loose reason to post this news on a Nintendo focussed site.

@HeeHo I was thinking the same thing LOL. Like the Drift thing made sense, but now there making a whole other article, not even updating the other one, just to tell us they patched it, like you said, a pretty loose reason.

@HeeHo They post a lot of articles which have very loose connection to the Switch. Literally a couple days ago they posted Elden Ring's review scores. I think that one is much more egregious because the connection there is a 0.

It's whatever gets the clicks and flaming comments.

Honestly, this website is becoming more and more difficult to visit because the toxicity levels and the increasing arrogance and entitlement of some people here is becoming staggering. Reminds me of why I stopped visiting this place during the Wii U days.

As if we don't have enough sh*t in the world to already worry about.

Congrats on this article for uncritically posting rhetoric from people who pretend Nintendo could fix joycon drift with a software update.

@Spoony_Tech Wow, I might have to just start replacing mine, sounds waay cheaper.

Both Nintendo Switch and Steam deck are drifting in the 90's with Super Eurobeat song Deja Vu.

This is a sign of the apocalypse, valve do what nintendont

And here we get people saying otherwise when something does it there no firestorm but only when the Switch has it. LMAO Can't seem to laugh hard enough at NintenDoomed fandom and Nintendo Haters. Hardware drifts don't fix with software but seems like people drink the Valve Koolaid but when Switch does there's a problem. People don't see the contradictions how they portray Switch and Valve is just mind delusional here.

@Snatcher It's easier then you would think too. I can change one out in about 5 minutes now. Once you know what to do it's pretty straightforward.

@Snatcher
if you do watch ifix it’s video on it. They only do the left Joycon but it is the same repair process on both sides just mirrored if that makes sense.

We've had the tech to not have this problem for 143 years, it's called a hall effect sensor.

@blindsquarel @Spoony_Tech I think I might just do that then, all it would take is learning, and at a cheaper price! Without having to spend on new joycons everytime. Does this go for lite's as well?

@Royalblues
What do you mean, this is a “ switch like handheld”

@Snatcher
I don’t see why it wouldn’t work for the lite. One plus from doing it is you can customize your joy cons more. I just d9 the sticks but it is possible to do the shells. Although that is much harder than replacing the stick.

@Snatcher My main is a Lite now but thankfully I haven't had to change one yet in 2 years. Perhaps they're just better design being all one system.

@blindsquarel It's not quite the same. One side is slightly more difficult then the other. I just can't remember which is the harder one. The design is just different enough that something is in a different spot which makes it a tad harder.

@blindsquarel Thank goodness it works, thank you!

@Spoony_Tech Actually I don't really need to change mines right now, It drift from time to time, but its nothing that doesn't stop, I just wanted to know just in case that day ever comes. As for the joycons! Probably will get a nice pack, a pack of cool colors or designs I like, then I will just keep replacing those.

@Spoony_Tech
Yeah imo, the right side is harder, but still pretty easy. Although watching one side gives you a pretty clear idea on what you need to do.

@Rika_Yoshitake The deck is specifically constructed to be easily disassembled and repaired. The analog stick units are basically just plugged in to the system.
So even if there inevitably is wear and tear, even an average user can fix this issue.

@SwitchForce Are you well?
There was no hardware drift, it was a software side deadzone issue...
Also, of course people complain about Nintendo, because they simply won't fix the issue. They continue to rely on parts known to be exceptionally faulty.
All while one of the first pieces of information Valve presented was a disassembly video, showcasing that the deck was build in a modular way with easily exchangeable parts.
I repaired JoyCon before, it's an absolute nightmare.

So yeah, if something isn't easily repairable by your average layman and things don't significantly change, people start to distrust a company. It's only natural.
And playing the "those are all just haters" card is incredibly ignorant...

@Rika_Yoshitake it's just Nintendo who is quite cheap and don't want to pay for better analog stick.

Wait, so your saying Nintendo just needs to do a firmware update and everyone would stop trying to sue?

How are pre-orders going?
I placed mine within the 1st five minutes of the pre-orders going live last year and still haven't received an e-mail invite to finalize the order.
What a weird system.

Lol good job Valve, you actually 1-upped Nintendo.

@Einherjar
Did you replace the shells or just the joy con sticks. I had never done a repair before but the sticks were pretty easy. Now shells on the other hand I hear can be tricky.

The issue with Switch is that the joycon are cheap and flimsy, it is a manufacturing fault. They should have created a new gen of joycon that use a different style of stick, phased them out. They did this with the Wii remotes that sensed waggle more than motion. Didn't admit liability or fault, just "motion plus". Valve appear to be a bit more honest IMO, tried to manufacture better quality in the first place.

Valve keeps surprising me. First i saw Gabe delivering the first preorders himself.
Now they patched this the second day. And when reading their warranty you could send your deck for free repair, and as for the parts its easy to replace yourself. (Saw some videos about that)

My brother has just bought the Oled switch and had drifts the first day and the left joycons disconnected when playing smash, happened almost Everyday.

@Snatcher Nintendo updated the switch to V2 & did nothing about the stick drift they did however fix the exploit so you couldn't hack it they've also released the oled version recently & still haven't bothered to solve the problem

@blindsquarel I had to replace the entire stick unit. Generally not a big deal, but the way JoyCon's are layered made it incredibly fidgety. Wort though was the rubber button mat. That thing just didn't want to stay in place.
All in all, probably one of the most annoying repairs i've done. Not difficult skill wise, but it's definitely not build with replacement parts in mind.

@Rika_Yoshitake They made them replaceable.

Really hard for nintendo to implement a deadzone feature hey?

And why is this news on a Nintendo site lol? Erm...I'm happy for Steamdeck owners I guess. Good for them

People don't understand the difference between hardware and software it seems by the ignorant tweets. But then again it is Twitter, so that's to be expected.

So it's a Steam Deck site now....

@Joe-b yeah, Valvelife.com

@Spoony_Tech that's awesome that you can do it that quickly... but at the same time it is soo sad that you have to do it in the first place

They fixed the issue with a tweet and you all believe them, lol

@UglyCasanova Nintendo has had several years to address the hardware issue of the joycons and release new fixed version, as well as repair the old ones. But they haven't.... It's been pretty clear for a long while now that Nintendo doesn't care about the users, mostly because people will continue to buy their faulty stuff anyways...

@hakjie11 HalfLifeLife.com 😜

This article... Why is this even being compared to the Switch?

The issues are of completely different magnitudes in terms of what would be required to fix them.

One requires the entire bloody world to send in their joycon to have them fixed, the other requires a simple digital distribution of a firmware update.

The panic attacks came from years of Switch drift abuse.

Welcome to deadzone 🪦💀🪦💀🪦💀🪦

@progx Xbox and PS controller are not even close to the number of drift issues compared to joycons , also, it take years for a problem like this happend on an Xbox controller, joycons it happend in a couple months. It is normal analog sticks will have problems over time, but not that fast and not in the general scale it happens with switch joycons.

It's possible to have a Xbox or PS4 falty in couple months? Sure. But just look at the quantity of issues involving this and compare to joycons numbers and you have an answer why people complain about joycons issues and not the other two.

@Rika_Yoshitake "A hardware issue isn't as "fast" to fix"

It also don't take 5 years with nothing being done.

@edusoares I didn't want to believe it either, but there are analog stick issues with both the DualSense and Xbox Series controllers. Had it happen to me and I'm not a "power" gamer either with my DualSense. Yes, these problems were in the previous generation with the PS4 and Xbox One, but it didn't get reported as often thanks to the Joy-cons.

Are they up to the reported issues with the Joy-cons? Probably not. However, I've NEVER had a single drift issue with any of mine. I own four sets, plus two of them are from the first year too, the third set is preowned and the fourth are the new white ones from the OLED. While I've seen it, but never had it happen to me at all.

Better and faster than Nintendo, most probably.

As MANY have said, a hardware issue is not the same as a software issue, but that does not in the slightest excuse Nintendo for dragging their feet for this long. Something needs to be done about this, and now.

So why exactly is NLife still talking about the Steam Deck?

How come if the Switch drifts we get whining but when Valve does it's a software fix. I think there is more to that problem then they are telling people.

I dig how straight foward and no nonsense this response is. I hope this fixes the issue.

I saw the dude from the tweet, Yang, do a presentation of the steam deck on a stream, love this guy's demeanor- completely unhype and matter of fact. He wasn't trying to sell it. He was like a regular 9 to 5 guy.

@SwitchForce Because the Switch took multiple years to even acknowledge it as an issue.

Steam Deck dropped 2 days ago and they already announced a fix is on the way.

I love my Switch and I love the games Nintendo makes - but that doesn't mean the company still didn't goof up on their years-long response time. You can like a company and still acknowledge their flaws.

Safe! I was actually worried tha this would be yet another hardware problem.

Then again, the timing, while coincidental, is very funny and fitting.

Well glad the issue was resolved fast, Nintendo should take notes.

Speaking of... what does this have to do this site?

No they fixed the issue with a firmware update, the tweet was just to let people know.

@sleepinglion It's weird but it's what get got this time around. We actually do have a timeline of sorts. If your reservation says Q1 2022, then you should expect your email on either the 7th, 14th, 21st, or 28th of March. They are sending the Q1 emails out on Mondays in March. If you're Q2 2022, then expect the same in April. If yours says After Q2 2022, then you're going to have to wait a bit longer as things ship out.

@Rika_Yoshitake the entire system is built around a manufacturing system with Ifixit to replace parts very easily (if you are hardware savvy) - that includes the joystick due to it's right to repair. In order words, you can buy the joystick directly from Valve/Ifixit it seems, and repair yourself / find someone to do it for you. I'm sure plenty of tutorial videos will be made on top of the many tear downs already seen.

So many people here think the two issues [software vs hardware] are the same lol. You can really tell who the Valve fanboys are here.

Especially when ignorance being spout by some people here that Nintendo did “nothing” to address stick drift which is objectively not true.

There are YouTube Switch tear down videos that prove that the hardware for the Switch stick drift HAS been addressed with later Joycon models implementing ways to mitigate the drift unlike the launch models. I got drift one time with my old Launch model and currently zero times with my day 1 OLED.

This doesn’t prove that the Steam Deck isn’t gonna be prone to mechanical stick drift issues like practically any hardware gaming controller/handheld gets.

@Snatcher Nintendo will replace your joycons for free - no need to shell out on new ones

@Banjo- I've heard lots of comments about the Xbox Elite controllers getting drift issues - yet no story about resolving them. Arguably, that's a worse(r) issue considering the relative price difference between a single joycon and a single Elite controller

@edusoares edusoares12:59pm
@Rika_Yoshitake "A hardware issue isn't as "fast" to fix"

It also don't take 5 years with nothing being done.

That's objectively false. There have been multiple tweaks and fixes over the years. Nintendo has been done things behind the scenes to improve the durability and this has been confirmed by other YouTubers.

@Rika_Yoshitake completely agree. Let’s see how long this last, in reality it’s a handheld system for older games that it cannot play due to those games being m&k on steam. This system will only be good for a couple years and for what price just to play a limited amount of games just like the steam box? Unlike Nintendo Valve will move on like they did with the steam box as well and leave everyone with a paperweight.

@Sanjithechef @Rika_Yoshitake yes and you can void a warranty that you paid for when you bought the machine so if it craps out on you they will blame you for being mr fix it and not replace or repair your system.
Fixing yourself is fine but while under warranty no one should be fixing it themselves. Warranties are there for a reason and I’ll be damned if I pay 500+ for something and be expected to fix it myself when I have a warranty.
Also valve actually isn’t recommending anyone fix their devices themselves. Anyone telling you that is not a company spokesperson on the subject and should not be listened to.

@jsty3105 I haven't heard many stories about Elite controllers drifting but most people I know have issues with their joy-cons. Nintendo's current hardware and controllers is the worst-quality they have ever made.

@Dirty0814 you’re right. Unless you’re very confident with repairing yourself you shouldn’t attempt to. I guess the point here is that it’s a system made to have replaceable parts if problems do arise

@Dirty0814 I disagree. I guarantee 80% of the switch library can be found on PC/Steam, not to mention games commonly associated with Switch like Monster Hunter Rise or Hades. Regardless of whether support continues or not (and I think it will) it’s a computer. Youll be buying a gaming computer for 400-600. It runs many newer AAA games and indies. PC and specifically steam represents a massive library. It isn’t just old mouse and keyboard games (which btw you can play as intended if hooked up to a monitor with peripherals), we’re talking about the potential to see it running every game from God of War to Final Fantasy XIV to Hades to Forza Horizon 5. The switch is a great console, but other consoles can have the potential to be great too.

@Banjo- I'm active on HotUKDeals and whenever a post about the Elite controller pops up, drift is inevitably mentioned. Also, Microsoft had to extend the warranty because of the volume and frequency of reported issues (which led to a lawsuit): https://www.thegamer.com/microsoft-warranty-elite-series-2-joystick-drift/

@Varkster Wait, for real?
That has no place here at all.

i have a theory that joycon drift gets bigger press because there are just so many of them - after all, every Switch console comes with double the number of controllers that the Xbox/PS comes with .... and.... a lot of Switch consoles have been sold...

@jsty3105 It's like 1:90 ratio where 1 is Microsoft and 90 Nintendo in terms of drift failure.

@Astral-Grain software doesn't fix mechanical issues. They only did that because people posted it. You have to wonder if they would've posted this if people didn't say something about this happening.

@SwitchForce I don't know what you're referring to here.

Are you saying Valve only fixed the issue because people spoke out about it?

@Astral-Grain well then not my loss here.