Steam Deck is having stick drift issu — er, nevermind

Steam Deck is having stick drift issu — er, nevermind

news image

GamesBeat Summit 2022 returns with its largest event for leaders in gaming on April 26-28th. Reserve your spot here!


Coming off a slew of enthusiastic Steam Deck reviews, fans were getting excited about Valve’s new hardware. But a handful of reports from early adopters briefly poured cold water on that anticipation. The Steam Deck has analog-stick drifting issues — at least according to a number of posts on Reddit. But in the hours since those posts, Valve is claiming to have identified and eliminated a software bug that was causing the problem.

Hi all, a quick note about Steam Deck thumbsticks. The team has looked into the reported issues and it turns out it was a deadzone regression from a recent firmware update. We just shipped a fix to address the bug, so make sure you’re up to date.

— Lawrence Yang (@lawrenceyang) March 2, 2022

On Reddit, users like Hollandje demonstrated the analog stick continuing to receive input even after they let go. This looks a lot like the drifting problem that affects Nintendo Switch and the gamepads for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

My Steam deck also has drifting on the right joycon after light use 🙁 from SteamDeck

But this is no longer a problem, according to Valve designer Lawrence Yang. Valve claims the issue was a bug in its firmware. This glitch caused a “deadzone regression” that apparently operates like stick drift.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that Steam Deck is drift free. All analog sticks fail over time, and some launch busted — just like a display with a stuck pixel. But even in that case, the good news is that the Deck’s sticks are very easy to replace. You might not want to fix them yourself. That is understandable. But you can take them to a local repair center and get the device back quickly as long as they have the right components.

The bigger story here is that it is easy to give into FUD and hype in the early days of new hardware. If you’re sensitive at all to either, then you should tune out. It’s going to take time for the Steam Deck scene to gather enough data to know the real truth about this device. So sit back and don’t fear the worst from every negative headline.

GamesBeat’s creed when covering the game industry is “where passion meets business.” What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you — not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Learn More

Read More