Sony addresses DualShock 4 ‘wear and tear’ complaints

January 30, 2014

Sony has issued an official response to claims of early wear and tear on select DualShock 4 controllers.

The issue came to light recently on Sony’s community forums where users most commonly reported cases of split rubber and tearing on the DualShock 4’s left thumbstick. However, some reports exist on Neogaf, and even the PlayStation Official Magazine’s YouTube channel, which date as far back as November last year.

The Sixth Axis subsequently reached out to Sony this week and received the following response:

“A very small number of users have reported to us that the rubber surface of their Wireless Controller DUALSHOCK®4′s analogue sticks have torn. Although the rubber material of the analogue sticks fulfils our quality assurance standard, we will inspect individual DUALSHOCK®4 controllers experiencing this symptom, and will replace them with new ones for free as long as they are within the warranty.”

Prior to that, TSA had conducted a poll which claimed that 37 per cent of their readership who were DualShock 4 owners claimed some degree of wear and tear, based on over 6000 responses.

Whether this is a core issue with design remains to be seen, though early adopters may rest assured that the PlayStation 4 comes with a standard 12 months warranty across major territories, Australia included.

Experienced similar issues with the DualShock 4? Let us know in the comments.