• sbeak@sopuli.xyz
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    1 day ago

    They still use potentiometer sticks, which degrade over time due to physical contact between all the bits vs hall effect and TMR which uses fancier magnets that require less physical content.

    The big 3 console brands all don’t use HE or TMR, since potentiometer sticks are cheaper and they see the constant replacement of controllers (or their parts) by consumers as beneficial to their profits, making the shareholders and big business officials happy.

    But then you have third-party brands like GuliKit, GameSir, and 8BitDo, who use HE or TMR to help differentiate from the big first-party players and to stand out from the crowd.

    • sbeak@sopuli.xyz
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      1 day ago

      From my experience with an in-store Switch 2, the joysticks seem to be slightly bigger and are quite a bit smoother. That might mean that it will last slightly longer than the smaller Switch 1 sticks (bigger things are usually more reliable when it comes to these kinds of tiny parts), but it’s still potentiometer sticks, so it will experience stick drift over time to a similar degree.