If there’s one thing that’s become synonymous with modern handheld gaming, it’s the dreaded prospect of stick drift. However, according to Valve, the Steam Deck shouldn’t suffer from the same issues associated with the Nintendo Switch.
Revealed during an exclusive interview with IGN, Steam Deck hardware engineer Yazan Aldehayyat elaborated on the console’s controller durability:
“We’ve done a ton of testing on reliability, on all fronts really – and all inputs and different environmental factors and all that kind of stuff. I think we feel that this will perform really well. And I think people will be super happy with it. I think that it’s going to be a great buy. I mean, obviously, every part will fail at some point, but we think people will be very satisfied and happy with this.”
In addition to rigorous testing, Valve also claims that it has sourced durable parts which should prevent wear and tear related issues:
“We purposely picked something that we knew the performance of, right?” stated Steam Deck designer John Ikeda. “We didn’t want to take a risk on that, right? As I’m sure our customers don’t want us to take a risk on that either,”
The Dreaded stick drift curse
Hopefully, the Steam Deck will be able to avoid the curse of stick drift, at least for a little while. While Nintendo does offer repairs for those affected by the fault, having to constantly repair or replace Switch Joy-Cons is a nuisance. The issue has also reportedly begun to affect even the likes of the PlayStation 5 DualSense because it uses the same joystick mechanism.
In other stick drift related news, a YouTuber recently discovered that the issue can be fixed by using a tiny strip of paper. Who’d have thought the solution would be so simple!
Do you think Steam Deck will be able to avoid stick drift issues? Join the conversation on our social media channels!
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Featured Image Credit: Valve