What causes analog stick drift and what's the fix?

Analog stick drift is one of the most dreaded issues in gaming. You're in the middle of enjoying a video game and suddenly your character starts moving on their own or your aim is all over the place. The problem could be slight or it might make it impossible to play at all. So what causes this?

There are many issues that can lead to the so-called "drift". On some controllers such as PS2 and Xbox 360 the sticks are highly prone to physical wear. They get looser and looser over time until they go beyond the factory set "dead zone" (the area in the center of the stick where the controller doesn't register any input) and start going one way or another without any input from you. This sort of a problem requires replacing the analog stick to repair.

Newer controllers such as Xbox One/Series, PS4, and PS5 usually have fairly durable analog stick assemblies, but they are built with much smaller tolerances and are highly prone to potentiometer problems. Analog stick potentiometers use a rotating contact which wears over time and is susceptible to issues due to contamination and even factory defects. The result is a stick that may jitter badly or even constantly register full input in one or more directions. There are various fixes for these issues, from flushing out any contamination in the stick to replacing defective potentiometers or the entire sticks.

Even if a controller doesn't have excessive physical wear or failed potentiometers, you may still have drift issues simply due to regular wear with the center point of a stick slowly shifting away from where it should normally be. Certain retro controllers like Nintendo 64, PS2, Original Xbox, and GameCube actually self-center at every start up. However, many newer examples such as Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, and PS5 controllers don't do this at all, so even brand new analog sticks will not be properly centered without some special tricks. Only Nintendo Joy-Cons, Xbox Series, and Elite controllers feature official software that allows the user to correct this on their own. 

When we repair controllers, we use every trick in the book to make them work as well or better than factory. With controllers that cannot be calibrated, we use various techniques to manually adjust the sticks and potentiometers or sensors. For any that do allow calibration, we make sure they are correctly tuned through software. It's also very important to use the right parts. We either use original or upgraded analog sticks and repair parts which respond the way you'd expect and bring every controller back to full functionality. Unfortunately, there are countless aftermarket analog sticks that will actually hinder the experience due to poor build quality or incorrect sensitivity curves, so not every refurbished controller you'll find on the market is the same.

You can browse our selection of fully refurbished controllers at the link below: 
https://www.abdgames.ca/collections/controllers