I can't tell you how many controllers I have bought and thrown out over the years, a sh*tload. I had controllers with deadzones, stick drift, breaking triggers. My favorite was the original Xbox 360 controller for Windows and one day it simply stopped working at all. At the end of the PS4 era I bought a brand new PS4 slim and the DS4 had stick drift from the start, I hated that controller so much, I disassembled it and brushed the insides of the sticks and that helped but after a while the stick drift returned, I was so frustrated I threw it out and bought a knockoff but it has deadzones, of course. On PC I have been using the Xbox One controller and it's been great. I bought an adapter to use it with the PS4 but the XO controller doesn't have the touch button. I learned that you can reassign buttons in PS4 Settings but guess what - you can reassign all buttons BUT the touch button! Sony wtf, why would they do that? I can't play TLoU without the touch button, switching from one controller to another fro crafting is too hassle and immersion breaking. Buy yet another controller for the PS4 in 2026? No thanks.

I rarely have a controller break as I am gentle with them. I notice a lot of people are hard on them and sometimes don't realize it. I doubt this is bad luck and just harsh on them.

Yikes. Sorry to hear that!

I think modern controllers are just made cheaper, because I own multiple OEM NES controllers and they all still work just fine... and they have been literally thrown and beaten to death (I had quite the temper in my youth). Dual Shock 2's, in my experience, have been the worst. Dang near impossible to find a used one these days that works well.

I got stick drift now on PS5. Only once I had it on my, uh, maybe ten ps4 controllers I went through which were mostly buttons, mainly the Dpad shitting out. I think they make them to break and why wouldn't they, when people HAVE to buy them for their console. It's easy money.

They're simpler constructs.More moving parts = more problems that can go wrong.

However, I wore out a lot of NES and SNES controllers in my time. The cheap rubber parts wore pretty quickly, causing dragging or unresponsiveness on the down and right sides, which are the most heavily used. I also had that problem with the Game Boy. And the N64 sticks were really easy to grind into powder.

Conversely, my Switch Pro Controllers have given me years of problem-free service. No drift, loose sticks, or anything like that. Even their batteries still charge like clockwork. 

Worst controllers I had were SNES and Gamecube controllers, always breaking in some random way. Since then, everything has been pretty good.

Yeah. My Switch Pro controller from launch is still kicking, and I use it all the time. Great controllers, at least in my experience.