Valve’s recently-announced Steam Deck drew comparisons to the Nintendo Switch when it was unveiled, so it’s only natural that that one might wonder if the handheld PC might suffer from similar stick-drifting issues. According to Valve, we don’t really have to worry about that.
Speaking to IGN, Steam Deck hardware engineer Yazan Aldehayyat said that “a ton” of testing had been done. “I think we feel that this will perform really well. And I think people will be super happy with it,” he said. “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.”
Meanwhile, designer John Ikeda explained that they “purposely picked something that we knew the performance of” to avoid taking a risk.
The Switch’s Joycon drift dates back to 2019, with the issue involving the console’s sticks acting as if you’re moving them even if you’re not. The issue saw a class-action lawsuit being filed, an apology from Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa during a Japanese investor Q&A, and, more recently, people using small cardboard pieces to stop the drifting.
The issue isn’t limited to handhelds either, with PS5 controllers having a similar issue. It’s no surprise then that Valve had took drifting into account when designing the Steam Deck, although we’ll have to wait to see how effective their efforts were.
The Steam Deck is set to hit the US, Canada, the European Union, and the UK in December, with reservations in those countries already opened. The price starts at US$399 (~RM1,676).
