After 5 Months of Playing *Apex Legends*, the Switch 2 Joystick Gave Out First?

The moment the light falls on the surface of a handheld console, I often first check whether the edges and corners have been worn into fine little marks—like looking at a house you’ve just moved into, checking the paint on the walls before the windowsill. Controllers are even more like this. What truly determines the feel is often not the few lines on a spec sheet, but the temperature of that bit of rubber touching your skin every day when your thumb comes down on it. Recently, a player posted in the community saying that after only 5 months of using their Switch 2, the joystick rubber had already suffered serious wear, and that kind of image instinctively makes people frown.

What makes it even more subtle is that this player said they don’t eat while gaming, and their hands aren’t particularly sweaty either, so they were very puzzled by how quickly it had deteriorated. The poster also added that the games they usually play are titles like Apex Legends, Warframe, and NBA—the kind that involve frequent joystick pushing—and yet only one controller had the problem, while the other remained perfectly fine. Many people in the community found it absurd after seeing the post, because some said they had already put hundreds of hours into their Switch 2 and it still looked nearly brand new. There were even launch-day Joy-Con users from the original Switch speaking from experience, saying that theirs had never worn down like this even after many years.

Back to the games themselves, the reason this sparked discussion is not just because the words “wear and tear” are so striking, but because it happens to touch on what action game players care about most. In a game like Apex Legends, where movement, aiming, and correcting direction all rely heavily on the left stick, when the action gets intense, your thumb and the rubber are almost in constant friction. Some players also explained that in most games, the left stick handles movement, so it naturally gets used more often than the right stick, making heavier wear on one side actually not that unusual. Still, if it gets worn to this extent in just 5 months, it’s hard to attribute it entirely to normal use.

But beyond the images themselves, the discussion has gradually split into two camps. Some suspect inconsistent materials and unstable build quality; others point out that hand creams and skincare products containing alcohol may corrode joystick rubber, significantly accelerating aging after prolonged contact. As for solutions, the community is actually fairly unanimous: there’s no need to replace the entire controller set. The joystick rubber caps and joystick modules can both be purchased and replaced separately. It’s just that disassembling the Switch 2 is a bit more complicated than the original, but if you follow a guide and work patiently, it’s not completely beyond the reach of an average player.

If you already spend a lot of time playing high-input games like Apex Legends, my advice is straightforward. First, regularly check whether the surface of the left stick has become shiny, thinned out, or started peeling at the edges. Second, after repairing it, add a thumb grip as early as possible. It doesn’t cost much, but it can prevent a lot of direct wear. Third, it’s best to avoid hand care products containing alcohol before touching the controller. For people who really care about the tactile quality of their devices, a controller is not just a consumable. It is the first layer of skin between you and the game world. If it becomes even a little rough, immersion is the first thing to start leaking away.

In the end, this incident was also turned by the community into a question: is it a design flaw, or improper use? Based on the information currently available, it’s still hard to definitively say which side is right, because there are also people who have played intensively and kept theirs in excellent condition. But at the very least, one thing is certain: the durability of the Switch 2 controller has already started to make some players uneasy. For someone like me, who even looks for the right angle when taking screenshots, whether a machine can make people feel at ease enough to “move into it” has never been just about the visuals—it’s also about these places you touch every single day.