Valve says it’s fixed Steam Deck’s drift issue via a software update

Valve says it’s fixed reported incidents of Steam Deck analog stick drift via a software update.

On Tuesday, multiple Reddit users posted video evidence that their devices were experiencing drift, which is when an analog stick registers movement even when the player isn’t touching the input.

However, Valve has seemingly moved swiftly to rectify the issue, with designer Lawrence Yang telling users on social media that it should now be fixed via a firmware update.

“Hi all, a quick note about Steam Deck thumbsticks. The team has looked into the reported issues and it turns out it was a deadzone regression from a recent firmware update,” they wrote. “We just shipped a fix to address the bug, so make sure you’re up to date.”

The update appears to have worked, as one of the Reddit users who complained of drift has said that their issue has now been fixed and another has deleted their post entirely.

Most game controller sticks are at risk of ‘drift’ over time as parts degrade, but the issue has been most commonly associated with the Nintendo Switch in recent years.

Valve hardware engineer Yazan Aldehayyat claimed last year that the company was doing everything it could to avoid stick drift.

Speaking to IGN, Aldehayyat said: “We’ve done a ton of testing on reliability, on all fronts really, and all inputs and different environmental factors and all that kind of stuff. I think we feel that this will perform really well. And I think people will be super happy with it. 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.”