Update:
- A group of plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed a class action lawsuit accusing Sony of selling PlayStation 5 consoles with defective controllers.
- The group previously opted out of arbitration in an effort to bring their claims against Sony to a jury trial.
- It claimed Sony sold PS5 controllers containing a manufacturing defect that caused video game characters or gameplay to move on screen without command or controller joystick operation.
- The group opted out of arbitration by sending a letter to Sony within the first 30 days of booting up the video game consoles.
- One of the group voluntarily dismissed their claims in early October 2023, while the remaining seven PS5 owners voluntarily dismissed their claims later that month.
Sony PS5 controller defect class action lawsuit overview:
- Who: A group of PS5 owners have opted out of arbitration with Sony Interactive after filing a class action lawsuit against the company.
- Why: PS5 owners claim Sony sold consoles containing controllers with a manufacturing defect.
- Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in California federal court.
(Dec. 30, 2021)
A group of Sony PlayStation 5 owners have opted out of arbitration with Sony Interactive over claims the company sold PS5 controllers containing a manufacturing defect.
Gamers claim the defect in the DualSense Controller leads to “characters or gameplay moving on the screen without user command or manual operation of the joystick.”
Sony’s PS5 software licensing agreement, which owners must agree to in order to play games on the console, includes an arbitration clause that can keep users from being able to pursue claims in court.
The group of PS5 owners, however, were able to opt out of arbitration by sending a letter to the company within 30 days of first booting up their systems, Video Games Chronicle reports.
Sony aware of defect but failed to rectify issue, plaintiffs say
Plaintiffs L’Marc Turner, Rohit Burani, Enrique Avelar, Christian Perez, Stefan McShane and Michelle McGuckin claim Sony is aware of the “drift defect” due to consumer complaints and its own testing, however failed to rectify the issue.
Plaintiffs want to represent a nationwide class and multistate subclasses of consumers who purchased a PS5 or a standalone DualSense Controller.
“Sony is — and at all relevant times has been — aware of the Drift Defect through online consumer complaints, complaints made by consumers directly to it, and through its own pre-release testing,” the class action lawsuit states.
The plaintiffs argue the defect “significantly interferes” with gameplay and is caused by a design flaw in the manufacturing of the console itself. Further, Sony is not making it easy for users to repair the controllers and is also unwilling to reimburse for shipping costs.
“Customers are experiencing long wait times and having to deal with a maze of pre-recorded phone prompts before finally speaking with an agent concerning repairs for DualSense Controller drift,” the lawsuit states.
The PS5 owners are accusing Sony of being guilty of unjust enrichment and breach of warranty, as well as in violation of multiple state consumer fraud statutes.
The plaintiffs are demanding a jury trial and requesting relief in the form of declaratory and injunctive relief, along with compensatory damages on behalf of themselves and all class members.
Have you purchased a PS5 console with a controller containing a manufacturing defect? Let us know in the comments.
The plaintiffs are represented by Tim Wolfson of Ahdoot & Wolfson PC; Benjamin F. Johns, Samantha E. Holbrook and Alex M. Kashurba of Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith LLP; and Steven L. Wittels, J. Burkett McInturff and Jessica L. Hunter of Wittels McInturff Palikovic.
The Sony PS5 controller defect class action lawsuit is Turner, et al. v. Sony Interactive Entertainment, Inc., Case No. 4:21-cv-02454, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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73 thoughts onSony PS5 controller defect lawsuit dismissed
I’m about to get a third ps5 controller in 2 years time… First 2 had left stick drift, second same, third is right stick… And now since gamestop can’t resist ripping people off, I now have to trade this controller in I got insurance on before they changed thier policy BTW, so now I won’t get a new controller, I get a used or refurbished one (same thing)… So i guess I’ll be trading in used controllers every four months for the rest of my life.
Thanks for not even bothering to post my comment, you clowns. It only took me 20 minutes, contained zero abuse, offensive language or personal attacks and you still saw fit to tell me to get bent anyways. Well, get bent to you.
This IS ABSOLUTELY an issue for EVERYONE who has owned any Sony controller for at least the last 20 years. These scumbags absolutely know that this is an issue and they flat out refuse to anything about it, failing to realize as idiots ehocfailctheir way to the top do that replacing these defective analog thumbsticks with slightly more expensive hall effect thumbsticks would fix this issue and likely cut their warranty rates by at least 75%.
The main reason everyone claims warranty is BECAUSE OF STICK DRIFT. I absolutely hate Sony, unfortunately I hate Micro$oft even more. I’m stuck with a $300 Edge controller so broken from stick drift after 12 months that I have to change my deadline settings to 12 on both sticks. It’s like I’m trying to control a sailboat on screen. This lawsuit needs to be revived, I’ll take part and refuse to either settle or quit.
Any lawyers out there who wants to become rich going after these parasites? Send me an email. I’ll be your first client because I’ve spent at least the amount I paid for the console on new counters, and no I don’t have the ability or equipment to remove defective thumbsticks and resolder exactly the very same failure prone pieces of 💩 back into my controller only to have to do it all over again in a few months.
Controller suddenly started this drift issue. Mine is from the right stick and the game will start spinning like I’m pushing the stick all the way to the left. So it spins really fast. This makes playing games impossible. I tried opening the controller to fix it myself by cleaning the sticks and their mechanisms. Turns out, there wasn’t any dirt or grime in there. Did the alchohol cleaning anyway thinking maybe I just can’t see the grime, but after meticulously and very carefully cleaning it and putting everything back together there was no difference. Immediately start drifting/spinning upon loading a game. So I know it wasn’t dirt/grime buildup. It’s just faulty. If Sony doesn’t offer me a new controller without this issue I’ll never buy another PS5 game or PS console. This is ridiculous and a company that ignores this defect is not worth anyone’s time. Sony, send me a new controller or I’ll get the boycott started.
Bought my ps5 and had to swap out my controller the next day as it came broken, the joysticks squeaked if you moved them and would get stuck, my second controller started having a drift problem about a year later.
Ive also noticed the controller is irritating to use the analog buttons on, i am constantly accidentally pressing left or right when i press up or down thanks to all 4 buttons being connected and for some reason smaller and closer together than the ps4 controllers, this is another problem no one seems to talk about.
The controller has problems left right and centre, i still have my ps4 controller that came with my ps4 pro and it works like new, even my OG ps4 black controller works fine and only needed its L1 fixed due to dropping the controller, it has NO other problems and never had a stick drift issue, so how do ps5 controllers break so often and have so many problems? Obviously on purpose.
Im done with sony, and xbox offers nothing, pc is also all digital now, so i think im done with gaming, its gone to hell.
Got my PS5 in December 2023, with two controllers, and within months both got affected by stick drift. One is so bad, that it cannot be used at all, it goes permanently to the left. I’ve been gaming for 32 years and I never ever had to repair consoles or accessories. I am baffled by how poorly designed the PS5 DualSense is.We definitely be compensated.
I have had two PS5 controllers both of them having stick drift within a year of purchase
I’ve purchased seven PlayStation five controllers since the council was released, every single one of them has had drift. Can air and cleaning them out and help but it doesn’t help very long and they just get dirty again it’s fucking ridiculous and I can’t play certain games because of it.