- The Steam Deck is now out and available for interested gamers to purchase.
- Unfortunately, Valve's handheld gaming PC already came with some issues.
- Customers were reporting the thumbstick drifting without any human input.
- However, it was due to faulty firmware and a fix has already been released.
We now have yet another awesome gadget to add to our collections, one that promises to be your best gaming buddy for years to come.
Steam Deck, Valve’s handheld gaming PC, has finally started making its way to the general public and, while the overall reception so far seems to be positive, many have reported some huge issues.
One of the most annoying ones is the thumbsticks drifting even when there is no human input, which got new owners worried.
However, this is a relatively common problem in controllers and the Nintendo Switch console is actually notorious for displaying this problem.
The problem was caused by faulty firmware
If you just received your new Steam Deck or you were planning on purchasing one and these recent reports got you questioning the device’s durability, there really is nothing to worry about.
Although the drift problem is usually caused by a hardware issue, it was actually happening because of a dead zone regression, contained in a botched firmware update in Valve’s case.
Valve has already released a fix and recommended that gamers update to it as soon as possible. In order to encourage more people to apply this new patch, the message was even made public on Twitter.
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. We just shipped a fix to address the bug, so make sure you’re up to date.
— Lawrence Yang (@lawrenceyang) March 2, 2022
There are some, however, that never had to deal with this issue and don’t even know what stick drift is.
To describe it, the analog stick continues to pass input to the game even when you’re not touching it. Simply imagine how much of a nuisance this can be while playing Call of Duty or FIFA.
Most of the time, these types of problems occur due to manufacturing issues, wear and tear, or dust particles getting trapped in the sensors.
That being said, as we previously mentioned, Steam Deck fans will be pleased to know that this was just the result of a tiny firmware issue.
This device has just come out and we’ll keep eye on it, monitoring performance and the bugs that we’re going to have to deal with moving forward.
Have you already got your hands on a brand new Steam Deck? Share your experience with us in the comments section below.
ncG1vNJzZmivmaOxsMPSq5ypp6Kpe6S7zGiqrZ2RonqlscKkZKysmZi4brDRop2tZZaexXA%3D