Recently, I had the opportunity to test a 15-year-old PlayStation 2 (PS2) controller, and what I discovered was astonishing: despite years of heavy use and a considerable amount of dirt buildup, this controller exhibited almost zero stick drift.
For those unfamiliar, stick drift is a common issue in modern gaming controllers where the analog sticks register movement without any input from the player. This problem has become increasingly prevalent with contemporary controllers, including the PlayStation 5’s DualSense. It got me thinking: why did we rarely, if ever, hear about stick drift during the PS2 era, despite analog sticks being a staple feature since the PlayStation 1 days?
