The Nintendo Switch’s infamous “Joy-Con drift” showed us that we deserve more from joysticks and that one company is only too happy to help. Now, GuliKit is officially bringing its drift-resistant magnetic Hall effect joysticks to a PS5, PS4, Xbox, or Nintendo Switch Pro gamepad near you in the form of upcoming upgrade kits.
They’ll be available for the Sony DualSense, DualShock 4, Xbox Series gamepad, and Nintendo’s own official Switch Pro controller. But surprisingly, GuliKit is no longer bringing it to Sony’s modular DualSense Edge like it originally promised and won’t offer it for Xbox Elite controllers, either. GuliKit business director Jack He tells me that’s because neither Sony nor Microsoft offer working calibration tools for their flagship gamepads. (Hall effect joysticks do need to be calibrated before first use and periodically afterward.)
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Image: GuliKit
Instead of producing a drop-in Hall effect module for the DualSense Edge, He suggests that “players can use this new stick to install on the stick module,” presumably soldering it in themselves if Sony adds a calibration tool to the PS5.
Speaking of soldering, that might be a required skill for these other gamepads, too. While GuliKit’s Steam Deck and Joy-Con sticks are attached with screws and are easy to remove, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo all tend to solder their ALPS potentiometer joysticks directly to their gamepad circuit boards, as you can see in iFixit’s many guides.
GuliKit’s He wouldn’t provide other details, prices, or any release dates at this point but tells me these new sticks are “a very new patented technology which is different from our current hall effect joystick.”
Many manufacturers have begun to adopt drift-resistant joysticks in their premium controllers and handhelds, many if not all of which are supplied by GuliKit, though others (including Valve) say they believe their existing ALPS sticks are good enough. With the ROG Ally X, Asus is trying to hedge its bets; it’ll ship with ALPS sticks rated for 5 million rotations, but Asus also worked with GuliKit to offer a Hall effect upgrade kit.
