New PS5 Lawsuit Hopes To Get You Relief

It's safe to say that analog sticks aren't new to gaming. These inputs have appeared on numerous controllers over the years, and most of the time, console generations come and go without much fuss about them. That hasn't been the case recently, though, as both Nintendo and Microsoft have come under fire for analog stick defects in their controllers. Now the PlayStation brand is joining this prestigious club, with Sony becoming the latest company to be sued over something called "stick drift."

For those who need a brief refresher, stick drift occurs when an analog stick registers movement on its own. This can lead to some unfortunate circumstances: a character moving in a game when you don't intend them to, for example, or a cursor moving around in a menu as you try to make a selection. A few days back, word got around that litigation over stick drift in the PS5's DualSense controller was a real possibility. Fans weren't very happy that the relatively new DualSense was already having this issue. Yesterday, IGN reported that a lawsuit had indeed been filed in the Southern District of New York.

According to IGN, which obtained a copy of the suit, a law firm called Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith LLP is bringing the litigation forward. If that rather lengthy name sounds familiar, it may be because this same firm also filed a lawsuit against Nintendo for the same thing in 2019. The DualSense suit reportedly calls the controller "defective," and slams Sony for making customers jump through hoops in order to get help with the issue. The firm pushing the suit hopes to secure "monetary relief for damages suffered," as well as "declaratory relief, and public injunctive relief."

It'll be interesting to see if this DualSense lawsuit ends up in front of a jury — that is, if things even get that far. Sony could hope the suit gets hashed out in arbitration, or it could try to settle the issue before it becomes a more protracted affair. Regardless, it seems that, with Sony now joining the ranks of companies that have been sued over stick drift, the problem is not going away. All three companies — Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft — may need to go back to the drawing board on their controller designs. Not only could changes potentially keep stick drift from happening, but these fixes could also help keep these companies out of court.