In a report from IGN, Valve has responded to an issue relating to stick drift that several players have been experiencing with the recently-released Steam Deck. A Valve spokesperson said the problem is a result of a “deadzone calibration issue” and should be resolved with a new firmware update. The fact that Valve has confirmed the issue is due to software rather than hardware will be music to the ears of many gamers.
For the lucky people who have never experienced stick drift, the issue is one that has plagued various gaming controllers for decades. Stick drift is when the left and/or right stick on a controller does not accurately read which way the player is pushing it. The most recent console to suffer from stick drift has been the Nintendo Switch, with report after report of players experiencing drifting issues with the console’s Joy-Cons.
Reports of stick drift on the Steam Deck began spreading yesterday across social media with users posting videos of the problem in action. Considering very few people have actually gotten their hands on the console yet as the first wave of preorders only arrived a few days ago, the early posts of issues were a bad sign. Thankfully, that is not the case as Valve has now said on the joystick problem, “The team has looked into these reports and has determined there was a deadzone calibration issue introduced in a recent firmware update. We have just shipped a fix to address the problem, and the team will continue to watch for reports related to this issue.”
The update is now live and multiple Steam Deck users have reported that the fix was indeed effective. While that is great news, some fans such as Redditor Stijnnl believes Valve has only increased the joysticks’ deadzone to resolve the problem. If that is the case, it could make it more difficult for the console to register smaller, more precise movements. Perhaps the update was simply a quick fix and Valve is continuing to work on the issue. Regardless, the company’s responsiveness to user issues is being praised by many Steam Deck owners.
