Sony may be sued after reports of DualSense controller drift

Sony may face a lawsuit over reports of a drift problem with the DualSense controller. A US law firm that previously sued Nintendo for Joy-Con drift is now investigating reports of this problem with the PS5 controller.

US law firm Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith says on its website that it is investigating a potential class action against Sony, based on reports that the DualSense controller may have drift problems or malfunctions. According to the office, this new PlayStation 5 controller would automatically register movement, without touching the joystick. This concerns the thumbsticks on the DualSense controller. We’ve been talking about this problem before complaints voiced by players.

The law firm has put up a form on its site calling on players to report if they experience these issues. It is likely that the company wants to take stock of how widespread the problem is and whether there is sufficient basis to start a class action lawsuit against Sony. Whether it will actually come is still unknown. If it does, it will only legally affect American consumers.

Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith is no stranger to these kinds of lawsuits. Previously, the office was also behind a collective lawsuit against Nintendo. The Nintendo Switch Joy-Con controllers have long been known for drifting. Two weeks ago, several European consumer organizations called on Nintendo to address these drift issues with the Joy-Cons.

In principle, such a problem of false inputs on the PS5 controller should be covered by the warranty, because then the product will no longer function as it should and playing a game normally due to the drift problem may be difficult or impossible. Kotaku has been informed by a Sony customer service representative in the United States that DualSense controllers with the drift problem are within warranty, although consumers must then send the controller in for repair at their own expense.