Steam Deck: How to fix control stick drift

Despite promises made last year that the Steam Deck will be free of the joystick drift that has plagued the Nintendo Switch since its introduction, it appears that a flaw has crept into the highly anticipated console's release.

Fans were afraid that this would be a difficult issue to fix when users on Reddit began posting videos of their consoles exhibiting the malfunction. It would be significantly more difficult and expensive to replace the controllers because they are incorporated into the console.

Fortunately, the Steam Deck's drift issue does not appear to be one of them. The issue was caused by a calibration fault introduced in a late-stage system update. The bug made the joystick's dead zone, which is when the controller detects no input, too small, causing the cursor to wander.

While there are various unauthorized patches going around on Reddit for this issue, Valve has already provided an official update. If your Steam Deck is suffering joystick drift, Valve has released a firmware update that should resolve the issue. Users should simply upgrade the console, according to one of the console's designers on Twitter, and the problem should be resolved.