Sony Sued Class Action Because DualSense Often Drifting

GAMEFINITY.ID, Jakarta – A class action lawsuit has been filed against Sony Interactive Entertainment for alleged misappropriation of the PlayStation 5 controller, DualSense. Previously, some users had complained about problems related to the controller of Sony’s next generation console because of the analog buttons that produced their own movement, or what is commonly called drifting.

The lawsuit was filed by Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith (CSK&D), on February 12 in United States District Court for the New South District of York. For those who don’t know, CSK & D itself is a law firm that previously filed a class action lawsuit against Nintendo over drifting problems on the Switch’s Joy-Con.

The action was brought against Sony by Virginia-based plaintiff Lmarc Turner, describing it “on an individual basis, and on behalf of all others with similar concerns”.

The lawsuit accuses Sony of “unfair, deceptive and/or fraudulent” business practices, which resulted in unfair wealth, alleging that the DualSense controller was indeed faulty.

“Specifically, the DualSense Controllers used to operate the PS5 contain a defect that causes characters or gameplay to move across the screen without user prompts or manual operation of the joystick,” the lawsuit reads, quoted by the Video Games Chronicle.

In the lawsuit, Sony is said to have learned of Drift’s defects through online consumer complaints, complaints made by consumers in person, and through its own pre-release testing. The plaintiff claims to have experienced irregularities in the DualSense controller he got from the PS5 when he purchased the console.

A number of affected users have also posted videos online documenting the problem.

“There is no indication, however, that Sony has developed an actual fix for the drift problem; instead, it appears to be just making some sort of minor fix and sending the DualSense Controller back to consumers who are still defective and vulnerable to future manifestations of the Drift Defect,” the complaint reads.

“There is also no indication that Sony extended warranties, compensated consumers for past costs or damages, or informed consumers of their confidential repair program.”

Plaintiffs are seeking monetary damages for damages suffered, relief declarations and injunctive relief for public damages. While it has not been disclosed how many individuals have sued, CSK&D said in court documentation more than 500 users experienced drifting issues on DualSense.

CSK&D previously filed a similar class-action lawsuit against Nintendo in July 2021, alleging that the company was aware of a flaw that caused the Switch Joy-Con controllers to drift. In March 2021, the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington submitted the case to arbitration, rejecting Nintendo’s offer to drop the case.

Microsoft is also facing a class action lawsuit over a product defect that caused the Xbox controller to drift. The platform holder recently issued a new statement requesting that the lawsuit be taken out of the courtroom by arbitration, so that the dispute is resolved by an impartial judge.

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