What causes a Unity UI not navigable by gamepad with the new Input System?

Your EventSystem still uses the legacy StandaloneInputModule, or the InputSystemUIInputModule's Move and Submit actions are unassigned, so the controller cannot drive Selectable navigation.

How do I catch this when it only happens for some players?

Capture it automatically from the player's device with the full stack trace, the device and OS, the build, and a breadcrumb trail of what they did. That turns a vague complaint into a specific, reproducible issue you can fix without owning the hardware it happens on.

How to Fix Unity UI Not Navigable by Gamepad with the New Input System

Quick answer: Replace the input module with InputSystemUIInputModule and assign its Move, Submit, and Cancel actions, then set a first selected object.

If your gamepad cannot move between Unity UI buttons, the EventSystem is not wired for the new Input System. Swapping the module and assigning actions fixes it. Here is how.

How to fix it

1. Use the right input module

On the EventSystem replace StandaloneInputModule with InputSystemUIInputModule. The legacy module reads old Input axes and ignores the new system's devices.

2. Assign the UI actions

Set the module's Move, Submit, and Cancel references to actions from your UI action map. An unassigned Move action leaves d-pad and stick navigation dead.

3. Set first selected and navigation

Call EventSystem.SetSelectedGameObject on menu open and make sure each Selectable has Navigation set to Automatic or Explicit so focus can move.

Catching the ones you can't reproduce

The hardest version of this to fix is the one you can't reproduce — it only happens on a player's hardware, OS, driver, or save state, under conditions that simply aren't present on your machine. A report that says “it crashed” or “it froze” gives you nothing to act on, so the bug survives release after release while quietly costing you players.

Automatic error capture closes that gap. Each failure arrives with its full stack trace, the device and OS, the build number, and a breadcrumb trail of what the player did right before it broke, so even a failure you have never seen becomes a specific, reproducible issue. Fold identical failures into one signature ranked by how many players each hits, and your worklist sorts itself worst-first instead of arriving as a stream of vague complaints.

This is where a tool like Bugnet earns its place. Its SDK captures every Unity error automatically with the full stack trace plus device, OS, memory, build, and game-state context, folds duplicates into one grouped issue with an occurrence count, and ties each to the build it first appeared on — so you fix the problem that hurts the most players first and confirm it is gone when its signature disappears from the next release.

Reproduce it once with full context and the fix writes itself. The hunt is the expensive part.