Following quite far reaching complaints and reports, we held a poll last week to investigate just how prevalent issues with wear and tear on the DualShock 4 analogue sticks really was.
For those unfamiliar with the issue, within less than two months, many people have complained of the rubber on the left analogue stick in particular (simply because it sees lot more use) wearing away, losing the mottled texture and potentially even splitting through to the plastic core. While my DualShock 4s have both had a degree of wear, our very own Peter found that his controller suffered from the rubber splitting.
So we ran a poll, asking whether you had seen any wear and tear of your own, whether your thumbsticks had split apart or if you’d not noticed any wear at all. There were 6,253 votes with the following breakdown:
- No wear and tear – 3,907 (62.48%)
- Texture rubbing away – 1,724 (27.57%)
- Rubber splitting – 622 (9.95%)
That means a combined 37.52% or 2,346 reported that there was some form of noticeable wear and tear on their controller(s), with early 10%, at 622 votes, stating that their controllers had the rubber splitting apart.
While we have to allow for a certain margin of error within these poll results, given the anonymity of internet polling, these percentages are sufficiently high to indicate quite a significant issue. With 4.2 million consoles sold by the end of 2013 and many people purchasing additional controllers, this could be manufacturing or design issue that has led to several hundred thousand DualShock 4s with splitting rubber and millions with excessive wear and tear.
We have requested comment from Sony on this, but if your DualShock 4s suffer from splitting, we would recommend that you exercise you rights and get in touch with the retailer that you bought from or Sony directly to organise a replacement.
double-o-dave
It wouldn’t surprise me if sweat is a big factor with this issue. Luckily my controllers seem fine at the moment.
Cerberus64
I was going to say exactly the same thing – I wipe my thumbs constantly to maintain a good grip and my thumb sticks are as good as new (day one machine).
double-o-dave
I just looked up those thumb grips on Amazon out of interest & saw that you can buy Camouflage DS4 covers. Why the hell would you want camouflage covers on your DS4???
1. No amount of camouflage is gonna help your controller when there’s a big neon glowing light beaming out!
2. If you turn it off and put it down, you’re never gonna find the bleeding thing again!
Steelhead
Loss of your camo DS4 will only occure in a woodland setting, urban locations are fine.
Cron_13
I’d not noticed any wear at all until you guys posted the poll. As I got the gamer bundle and I’ve not used the second controller much when I actually compared them the difference was noticeable. The left stick had also started to flake a little at the bottom.
Result though… Contacted Amazon who said they couldn’t replace my controller separately and they didn’t have any gamer bundles in stock anyway… Soooo they gave me a 15% discount off my purchase price for the whole bundle giving me about £65 to buy a new controller! That’s why I love amazon, brilliant customer service.
I ended up buying two replacement sticks from eBay for £3 and a set of ORB thumbstick protectors (which are fantastic much better grip) for another £3. Took me about 30 minutes to fit the new sticks and I cleaned up the L1 button while I was at it which now no longer sticks. Pretty easy job just be careful of the trigger buttons and the little springs as that’s quite fiddley.
Was going to see about putting an inline switch in to turn off the light but its a ribbon cable so would be way to much of a faff.
Be interesting to see if SONY release an official statement about the wear on the sticks.
Tuffcub
I have big paws. I have racked up over three full days playing Killzone. Mine are fine. You are doing it wrong :P
gazzagb
Surely though the amount that people play should be taken into account? A person who’s played loads may notice damage, while someone who hasn’t played as much may think they’re fine.
double-o-dave
I thought that but I’ve clocked up 150hrs on BF4, completed AC4 and sailed around oceans for hours, had tons of games on FIFA (which I’ve incidentally lost 99% of) & spent hours flying around on Resogun and mine seem fine so far.
Peter Chapman
Mine (in the picture) started splitting after no more than about 5-8 hours of play in total. It got a lot worse since then and the photo but I still haven’t used the PS4 more than 50 hours total since I got it and that time would have been split over the two DS4s I’ve got. The other one is definitely weakening too but it hasn’t split like that just yet.
I’ve also got quite big hands but I type all day – I don’t have rough skin or clumsy thumbs.
shields_t
Mine has been played far less than I anticipated, probably less than 20 hours each month since I’ve had it and it split this week – not something is expect from a product only a few months old. Still, I’m holding out hope that shopto will be able to replace it.
dude90
I’m quite happy without having that problem, yet.
mypetfrog
Only about 10hrs of play per week – mostly giving that left thumbstick a bashing on Fifa – and it actually split. So emailed Amazon and they did a straight refund credit so I could buy a new one, and didn’t even want it back! So then I sent off the broken one to Sony who have replaced it, and another new controller should be back with me tomorrow. Sweet!
SleazyC69
I bought the large bundle and both of my controllers are peeling. I attribute this to pushing on the side of the stick to walk forward out of habit due to playing for years with convex controllers. On a concave controller the lateral pressure is absorbed by the thin pronounced ring as opposed to the whole dome on a convex thumbstick, therefore you are applying as much force to something smaller and weaker hence the ring starts to tear away from the main bulk of rubber. My ds3s and 6axis sticks are still pretty much good as new, even though the writing has worn off the black plastic.
shields_t
Well, in the weeks since I answered that there was no wear on my controller in the poll, mine has split. I’m wondering – has anybody had any success in contacting Sony about the issue?
mypetfrog
Yes, just contact Sony Playstation support, they’ll ask you to send it in for inspection and then send a replacement within a week. Pretty painless.
Just had mine back, and now the 2nd controller’s L1 button has started sticking…. looks like that’ll have to go back too! :(
shields_t
Ah! Typical.
Thanks for the info, got another on order as the red one I ordered for launch day still hasn’t shown up (or been released?) and will contact Sony once I have a way to play my PS4 while it is being replaced!