Are controllers getting worse in quality?

[Kane99]

I don't know how it is for you, whether you use the same controller year after year, or struggle to find a controller that lasts you long enough. Do you consider the quality of controllers getting worse? I personally think it's about the same. I think most of the time our controllers start to go, it's because of how much we use them. For example, each of my Xbox 360 and a a few of my Xbox One controllers all died out on me, or ended up with analog problems, usually with the left stick. But, I blame it on playing games like Call of Duty constantly back in the day, that my controllers probably needed replacing more often than I did. 

And now with stick drift being an issue with a lot of of controllers, it makes me wonder if the quality of controllers is getting worse, or we're just not very good at keeping said controllers safe. What do you think it is? Is it the quality they put out, or is it how we take care of our controllers that does causes said problems? 

[Shagger]

If anything, I think the opposite is true.  The controllers for the Xbox 360 and especially the PS3 felt light, flimsy and were not reliable.  The quality stepped up big time with the PS4 and Xbox One and I feel the standard has remained high.  Even 3rd party controllers have improved a lot in recent years.  I reviewed a third party controller last year on this forum and I was very happy with it.  Better yet, it's still going strong.  So overall, I'm quite happy with they things are going when it comes to controllers, but that's only little old me.

Edited July 4 by Shagger

[Lens]

In my opinion, I think the quality of controllers is still pretty good, but I know that there are definitely some issues with durability.

 

[Scorpion]

I think it’s a mix of both! Heavy use definitely wears controllers down, but some newer ones feel less durable. 

[GameOn]

I've had mixed experiences with controller durability but based on my opinion , there are lots of improvements as technology advances..