also have stuck into same issue
but I found a weird thing, but it can have some usefulness
you may try nodes as “get gamepad left thumbstick x-axis”
it have a “execute when paused” setting,
the only thing - that nodes aren’t available into widget blueprints, so you should use it somewhere else
also look at example
61588-controllersample.rar (3.7 MB)
from this topic
i definitely like this solution. you need to check “execute when paused” where at axis functions to make it work in pause