First PS5 drift class action lawsuit filed against Sony

Law firm Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith LLP filed a class action lawsuit against Sony regarding the PlayStation 5's DualSense controller drift.

The lawsuit was filed on February 12 in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, on behalf of plaintiff Lmarc Turner and "similarly situated consumers."

The lawsuit, a copy of which was sent to GamesIndustry.biz, argued that the DualSense controller is "defective" as it suffers from a drift defect, a problem that sees it recording input even when the player is not using it.

The issue "compromises the DualSense Controller's core functionality," the document continued, adding that Sony has been made aware of the issues through online consumer complaints. The lawsuit mentioned the case of a player encountering drift issues as early as ten days after their purchase, directly quoting the Kotaku report that unearthed the drifting issues last week.

The lawsuit pointed out that the repair options at this stage are "slim" and also accused Sony of failing "to disclose this material information to consumers" despite being aware of the defect.

"As a result of Sony's unfair, deceptive, and/or fraudulent business practices, owners of DualSense Controllers, including Plaintiff, have suffered an ascertainable loss, injury in fact, and otherwise have been harmed by Sony's conduct," it continued. "Accordingly, Plaintiff brings this action to redress Sony's violations of state consumer fraud statutes, breach of warranty, and unjust enrichment. Plaintiff seeks monetary relief for damages suffered, declaratory relief, and public injunctive relief."

Controller drift has become a prominent issue for every platform holder, with numerous lawsuits against Nintendo across Europe, the US, and Canada, while Microsoft recently asked a US district court judge to force plaintiffs in a lawsuit over defective Xbox controllers to go to individual arbitration.