This is particularly painful with starfield. I know the game just came out, but the Fandom wiki is atrocious, and I haven’t been able to find any others.
Yup. If they’d just made the bowl out of something OTHER than ABS, they would have been good. Delrin, PTFE, even a thin layer of brass or broze, and those controllers wouldn’t have had anywhere near the amount of issues they’re known for having.
There are third-party manufacturers who sell replacement bowls and sticks, made from everything from POM to steel.
They don’t get sensor drift, but if the mechanical centering of the stick is sub par, you can get mechanical drift. The N64 is a good example. Flawless sensors, shitty mechanical construction
Joycon drift, and all other thumbstick drift, is already a solved problem.
Use bushings that actually have some abrasive resistance and aren’t softer than a fingernail.
Use a non-contact based sensor to determine the XY position of the stick. Hall effect, optical, strain gauge, whatever, we’ve had the tech for 50 years.
The reason why they haven’t done this is one very simple reason: $$$