Why I Never Replaced a Joystick in a DualShock 3 Controller

This has been my experience too. My PS3 controllers still work fine, aside from a shorter battery life due to age. I used them just a month ago to play through all of the metal gear solid games on PS3.

PS4 controllers, I got one that is showing slight drift, and one that is showing bad drift. But I did use these controllers quite a bit more than the PS3 controllers due to using them on PC, so these were by far my most used controllers.

I've had my PS5 controllers a lil over a year now and already have one showing bad drift, barely used compared to the others.

I have the same experience. PS3 controllers work perfectly and heavy use and all 3 of my dualsense controllers have bad stick drift . Going to take them apart and see if I can clean them soon . I've also had to take apart one of my dualsense controllers already because one of the buttons stopped working.
- Funnily enough I've had the opposite experience.
  
  All my PS3 controllers work badly. At least one gets a stick stuck in a corner sometimes. At least one misses some button presses or has a dead button. At least one randomly sends extra button presses. And an off brand one is just hard mode because it somehow doesn't respond the way some games expect.
  
  Otoh I've never found fault in my PS4 controllers. Are there and good tests I should know about?
  
  But neither of these is too surprising, since the PS3 controllers are very old and very used and the PS4 controllers have had a shorter and easier life.
My DualShock 4 lived a very long time.

I think the mini charging connector broke before the stick drifted.

Now I've had 2x refurbished DS5 from GameStop.

One stick tore off from broken down rubber/material. The other stick drifted real bad, after both extended plans ended too.

Current purple DS5 was new from Best Buy last July.

It started drifting three weeks ago.

I bought the extended plan and they said I can exchange it or use as a store credit towards a different controller (I see the edge joystick module is out of stock everywhere lol).
For the PS4 controller I followed this guide to fix the drift I got. Had to take apart joystick and clean the disc looking things.
Can definitely confirm the short lifespan of PS5 sticks.

Mine not only started drifting within a year, it also has "stuttering" inputs where tilting the stick forward sometimes produces short inputs in bursts for a second before it works normally.

Never had an issue with any systems controllers until the ps5 and the switch. The switch at least was forced to fix this for free because of how bad it was, and I used the service once so far. Ps5 is just awful... I have had mine since launch and am about to buy a 4th controller because all the rest have had drift. They last about a year on avg, and the same for all my friends as well. I don't know how they are allowed to do this without the same legal issues Nintendo had. I need a new controller really bad right now, but pissed I have to spend another $60 on this crap...

You don't have to, if no one did then they would have to manufacture them to a higher standard
I’m guessing it’s because Nintendo has a much broader reach with casuals, so there is a higher likelihood that people with legal know how will end up experiencing it first hand and can react accordingly.

They started using different technology that is more responsive/sensitive. The trade off is that they’re too delicate/prone to wear. But, yes, they do go with the cheapest options to cut costs.

The N64 had one of the worst joystick wear I know. Nintendo always had a hard time making proper joysticks

I think people judge it too much. It's a pretty early design, and it layed the ground work for what analog sticks are now.

The PlayStations controller for example didn't even have sticks, even though it's also a console with mainly 3D games. At least Nintendo took the effort to design something that is more usable for 3D games.

And I mean after that, they rarely made bad sticks? The Gamecube controllers sticks have a very unique, very nice feeling to them that's still more or less there with the Wii. The Wii U has more traditional sticks, but they also work completely fine. My gamepad has many hundreds of hours of playtime on it, and the sticks work like on day one.

But yeah, that definitely changed with the Switch. Fuck that thing and its joy cons, already had drift on them multiple times. The thing that annoys me the most is that they just pretend like the problem is not there, they basically tell you to go fuck yourself. Even my Switch pro controller had drift issues, which is just something I never had with Nintendo controllers before.
The plastic itself would wear out before the potentiometers ever got a chance to. I remember countless flaccid N64 controllers. Mario Party was a prime culprit. I never had that game, I kept a dedicated controller I never shared with guests, and I trained myself to be extra delicate with it. It ended up less only slightly flaccid by the time I sold my N64.

I think sprinting in COD4 ruined all of the left sticks on my DS3 controllers.

Mine was the right trigger from playing The Crew 2. I would subconsciously squeeze the shit out of it thinking that would make my car go a little bit faster. It got so bad that I couldn't even go full throttle.

Why I Never Replaced a Joystick in a DualShock 3 Controller

Answer: he hasn't played World of Tanks