Same thing's happened with my joycon, lol. Damn, I never had to deal with this drifting thing with previous Nintendo handhelds before (GBA, NDS, 3DS).
Joycon drift is an exaggeration and you know it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgNyDjjDCD4But for real, from what I understand, XBox 360 and One thumbsticks
as well as GameCube, Nunchuk and Joycons use "potentiometers", which have carbon-resistive tracks that the contact wipers touch for controller response. Potentiometers are inferior in comparison to hall-effect sensors and magnets that Sega have used for Sega Saturn's 3D Control Pad and Dreamcast controller have used. Apparently potentiometers are regarded a cheaper manufacturing option (you'd think it be the opposite), but of course cause drift over time (various, depending on how often use) while Sega never had that problem.
To over-simplify it: XBox and Nintendo joysticks work by a pointy-thing rubbing on a flat piece of metal, and if the pointy-thing rubs too much on the piece of metal through continuous play, may cause a scrape which causes drifting. This'll require having to open up the controller and replace the piece of metal, or buy a new controller. Whichever is cheaper.
Even third-party controllers such as ones from Retro-Bit uses Hall-effect sensors and Steam made use of haptic sensors for their controllers because they're tried-and-true drift-proof methods.
Though must say, if my GameCube controller use standard potentiometers, it's good it lasted this long without drift.
