Nintendo Releases Statement About Switch Joy-Con Drift Issue

I’m glad this blew up to where they needed to address it. Maybe something will come out of this. Fixing the drift issue has needed to happen since launch. Hopefully they will update future Joycon so I can finally buy more.

Pretty basic and vague answer, as always.

They need to replace the component parts they are using for the sticks. The current design is fundamentally flawed. Sadly this acknowledgement falls far short of that, but at least they acknowledge the issue.

A bunch of PR speak basically that neither confirms or denies anything.

Like a drifter the Joycon was born to walk alone.

This is definitely a bruh moment

Ok, but does that mean they will fix it now.

Because when I contacted support they just said I was out of warranty... Contacting support is what people been doing anyway.

MAKE THE STICKS WIDER

Sounds like now is the time for me to contact Nintendo and try to get my Joy Cons fixed.

If they are feeling pressure maybe they'll be more willing to do free repairs

If Nintendo is doing something about it, they ain't going to tell anyone about it. Besides we had 2 Switch that are coming out which may had different result. I may wait to see how those turn out before I jump on Nintendo with them lawsuit mob.

It's not good if your customer is stuck in a cycle of buying your product, waiting for the control sticks to break, hopefully soon enough to be in warranty, and then sending them back.

Love how they say "some" and then direct you to support. "That'll be the full price of a new joy-con set" to fix what shouldn't have been an issue to start with.

Nope! Too late! You shrugged this off back when the Switch came out, and now it's time to pay!!

It would definitely keep me from buying a Switch Lite (though w/o tv-out i wouldnt buy one anyway)
They could have just two two 3ds circle pads kn the switch lite and it would be better

@leo13 I just did. My left Joy-Con is drifting....

Warranty expired. They can’t support that, can they? Not without more money! Sooner buy parts and repair myself once blasting the dam thing with alcohol stops working

@konbinilife

Not buying a Switch light because of joycon drift makes no sense. The drift is either caused by weak joycon radios (known since launch) which are not a factor or do to a contact issue in the stick itself (only anecdotal). If there is a ‘weak’ link you think N didn’t look to change its design? Ultimately we won’t know to the product comes to market but just because the look like joycon analogues does not mean they are the same under the hood.

BTW I agree that the 3ds sticks were really good design for portable but no button and probably hard to integrate because of low profile,....I really hoped the light was gonna be a clamshell as that IMO is the best portable form-factor.

It is clear that people are having an issue with this. But I honestly find the idea of a lawsuit over this to be grossly excessive. "Consumer protection" ??? Was someone harmed from joycon analogue stick drift? Did Nintendo fail to honor someone's warranty? Where is the lawsuit worthy aspect of this?

It comes down to "I bought a product and it is defective, my warranty is expired though so instead I am suing"

Yes, this is a defect and Nintendo needs to fix it. But I just don't see where this justifies a lawsuit.

@QuickSilver88 From what I have read, the drift has nothing to do with the signal or connection, it is dust/dirt/grime getting inside the analogue stick because it is not sufficiently sealed.

"We know our sticks are trash. Hit us up and we'll repair it with the same trash components. You'll be good. Promise".

@Heavyarms55

Thats what I figured as others have said contact cleaner or dissemble and clean has fixed. If thats the case they likely already fixed it in new portable and may just ‘sneak’ the fix in on joycons at some point. If they lose the lawsuit they may have to extend warranty (like the x360) but its in their interest to correct it both for customer satisfaction and limiting future warranty claims.

Its a big nothing burger in regards to the Switch momentum train but we all know how this site likes click bait so here its big news.

@QuickSilver88 It's absolutely in their interest to fix them for a ton of obvious reasons. But I still don't see what ground the lawsuit has to stand on. But I'm not a lawyer.

Anyway yeah, I've watched some videos of people repairing them and it seems like the majority of the time for this issue, it's just open it up, clean it, close it back up.

5 left joy-cons later (on 2 different Switches, 1 switch is 1 year old, second switch is 2 years) and every single time I had to buy a new one.

Why? No issue said Nintendo, and the last time I was done with it because they required me to pay for the older one because it was 3 days out of warranty.

This is EU btw, I really like the Switch a lot but that whole "Nintendo quality" does not exist with the Joy-con analogs, if a PS Vita with same small analogs can work fine after 7 YEARS of intense usage then why can't do the joy-cons?

And I won't even start about their other controllers, aside from a broken analog on the N64 and a old nunchuck (after years of usage) all our Nintendo controllers work fine, same for handhelds their inputs, nothing has the issues as extreme like with the analogs on the joy-cons.

Yesterday I played Secret of Mana on the SNES we have, a SNES and it's controller that by now are 25+ years old and still work great, come on Nintendo admit you messed up with the joy-cons and "be a man" and recall all the joy-cons and extend their warranty just like Microsoft did with the Xbox 360 after their messup.

Because 5 new joycons on 2 systems in 2 years is insane, and I'm not giving my money for them anymore Nintendo, I fix them myself from now on for 6 times cheaper, but that doesn't change the fact that while cheaper I'm not happy about this.

Their reaction to this is weak, we know they know about the issue, we do contact them for warranty and that all does not fix this design flaw, this reaction is more like "we know it, deal with the drift because we ain't going to fix it"

@QuickSilver88 how do you explain joycon drift when they are connected and airplane mode is turned on then?

@Jawessome some people forget the joy-cons had connection issues and drift issues.

The first one they fixed (mostly) by a small change in the internal design, the latter still does exist.

2 separate issues, some people seem to forget that.

There is an issue but it would be nice if they extended the warranty,

Oh they'll help you alright. If you pay $40 to fix that faulty joycon

@Heavyarms55 exactly. And over time there will be a buildup of dust and etc. This is because the design is open and unprotected at the base of the stick. if only they chose a ball like design at the base of the sticks like the pro controllers and GameCube controllers have, then there wouldn’t be a big issue.

We need a joy-con lite, without all the fancy high-tech and useless stuff in it, and for half the price!

@Agramonte What is meant by the drift issue? One of my joycons was turning my Switch on and off at random times so I had to put it in another room among causing other problems. Is that the "drift" issue?

For us 3DS (or in my case, 2DS) owners who have yet to buy a Switch:

WHO. CARES.

@roboshort wait wat i dont think thats a drift issue man.

@mauhlin12 this is good work.

@ForgottenArctic People that pay 80 dollars for a pair of joycons do.

@Heavyarms55 the actual lawsuit is linked below. look around page 10-11, you’ll see a bunch of questions which almost boil down to did nintendo know about this, and if so why did they not disclose the defect to warn future consumers and fix others already still under warranty. if nintendo did know about this and failed to disclose then that would be a violation of various laws. also something to note is they’re seeking 2 different classes. first is everyone in the US that bought a switch, failing that the second is all California citizens who bought a switch. California has much more stringent consumer protection laws than most other states in the US.

https://chimicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Class-Action-Complaint-Nintendo-Joy-Con.pdf

you can find this document on google, should you rather source it yourself.

@tekknik That's something that is lawsuit worthy? If it were a safety concern I could understand it. Or if Nintendo wasn't honoring their warranty. Do you really think this lawsuit has any chance of success? Even if Nintendo knew about it and ignored it, it just seems like a poor business choice that would stain their reputation.

When I hear "consumer protection" I think about things like safety and false advertising. Like a company selling a product that when used could harm the user, or a product that is promised to do something, but simply doesn't. I think about things like those faulty Firestone tires that caused all those car crashes years ago, or the cellphones that burst into flames because of defective batteries.

Sure the drift issue is lame and suggests poor build quality, but no one is getting hurt by it. And as far as I know, anyone who sends one in to get it fixed, gets it fixed.

@NIN10DOXD Yeah, that's a good point.
...
But I didn't

@rushiosan Legitimately curious: What would you want them to say?

@retro_player_22 totally agree that if they’re working on the issue, we will never know about it until someone opens one up in a couple months and it’s entirely different components.

That’s some THICC PR speak right there though, but if you read between the lines, I think it’s a MOSTLY positive response (it still sucks, I know I know).

I read “we are continuously making improvements” to mean “we hear you, we’re on it”. This is in their best interest to fix. My guess is they started working on it a while ago, but like everything else in gaming, nothing takes a flick of the wrist to fix. My hope is they extend or waive the warranty on all current gen cons to allow for repairs with better components in the future. Of course I’m just speculating, but it’s my hunch.

“Some” my foot! 😂 I haven’t met anyone who has perfectly functioning joycons!

@roboshort it slowly moves even if you not using the stick. Mine is left. It is not bad for me yet, if I hold it it will stop.

I first noticed it in the menu. It would skip 1 or 2 spots after I let go of the stick, I just thought it was my imagination

The website tells you to use a soft toothbrush. Not gonna cut it Nintendo.

@GetShulked I cleaned my left stick with a 135 psi air compressor and it still drifts. Explain that.

They pretty much just said, “visit Nintendo support if your joycon drifts,” and didn’t say anything about the class action. Either way, I’m still glad Nintendo finally spoke up about the issue after staying silent about it for 2 years.

They've acknowledged the issue, but they have before (when I was looking for a way to fix this issue last year; there was already a page on their customer support website for this very issue).

But sadly, this is not enough.

Their generic statement telling us to go to their customer support webpage is basically what I did, and I ended up fixing my Joy-Cons myself due to my Switch being over a year old and thus out of warranty.

Nintendo needs to tell consumers that not only are they aware of the issue, but that they are working hard to rectify the issue with a redesign of the components or using better-quality ones.

The left stick of my Pro Controller also drifts :< this is a design / material choice issue on Nintendo's part for sure. Their (very belated) acknowledgement of the problem is a start, but I really can't justify buying another 1st party controller until they commit to fixing it.

@thedragonlegend
Must be something else in your case then. I’ve heard that the quality of material, or the design of the sticks isn’t very good. Could be that issue for you.
With mine if I blow inside the sticks from every angle, it will temporarily stop. But it always comes back.

So we're getting somewhere, even if it is just a typical corporate response, at least they acknowledge this is an issue now. Seriously, it's been almost a year since this issue was discovered, and several months since it became widespread. And they've been radio silent on it. It feels out-of-character because Nintendo normally doesn't let a hardware issue persist for this long.

@AlternateButtons you idiot. It's NOT something wrong with the users. It's an ACTUAL problem with the way they're designed. You can't say people are abusing them simply by using them. What do you want us to do, not play using the joycons?

@Heavyarms55 Lawsuits don’t always have to deal with physical injuries. It can also be financial. People are having to pay 80 or more bucks either for repairs or a new set of joy-cons and for a reason that isn’t their fault, but the companies fault for making a defective product and they stay silent and do nothing about it. The purpose of this lawsuit is so that Nintendo acknowledges and does something about this problem that they willingly decided not to fix for a long time, hopefully until now if the lawsuit turns out successful.

@Heavyarms55 the hurt comes to our wallets when every year or two (after the warranty expires) we have to pay to have them fixed?

@ritouf Because they probably aren't all made equal. There is likely variance based on worker competency, production location, part supply quality, etc...

@Mayday123 Like everything else in life? If your car breaks down after warranty, you have to fix it or buy a new one. Same with your refrigerator, your stove, you washing machine, etc...

@Christo114 No one has to pay anything. Yeah it sucks, but this is a luxury item, not a necessity. Anything we buy in life has the chance to be defective or to break. It sucks, If mine broke, I would be angry too. But things do break.

@BanjoPickles I know right.....and if they don't the drift is coming...

@Mayday123 Don’t bother attempting to communicate with @AlternateButtons. He’s a sad person who hasn’t learned the difference between positive and negative attention and craves responses of any kind. He posts contrary things so he can get replies to his posts and equates that with his self worth. I don’t even know what he said because I hit “Ignore” on his posts and suggest you (and everyone else) do the same.

The Joy Cons suck anyways. I don’t know how anyone can play games with those microscopic nubs; it’s Pro controller or nothing for me.

> we take great pride in creating quality products and we are continuously making improvements to them

cool, would love to see them for joycons someday

@Heavyarms55 But if part of a car is universally defective, the manufacturer is expected to recall said part and replace it, even outside of a warranty. The graphite pads in the JoyCon break down over time through normal use and cause drift. Nintendo created a defective product and should repair or replace it. Consumers spent $80 on pairs of JoyCon with the expectation that they’ll function properly for at least the life of the Switch itself. If they are routinely malfunctioning through normal use (and they are), it’s on the manufacturer to remedy the problem.

@rushiosan Actually it isn't vague. It's the ONLY correct response they can and should give.

It's really simple, if you buy something that's not working correctly. You contact either a. the store you bought from for a sales warranty. Or b. the company that made the product. It's then up to them to confirm you have a defect and that this defect isn't caused by you (the user). Then they are required to fix it.

@AlternateButtons ohh God. You're one of THOSE people... Goodbye.

@heavyarms55 because when any manufacturer makes a defective product or part, they should recall it and fix the problem.

Thanks Nintendo, for two years I always thought it was a feature. Thanks for being brave and freeing me from insanity.

@Heavyarms55 you’re right about it being a luxury, but people have to pay for a messed up item that wasn’t the users fault, and even if you get it fixed or get a new pair, (assuming you don’t have a warranty) it’s not worth paying 80$ to fix or get another defective product that will likely mess up within some months.

@phanboy
Be glad Nintendo isn't Bethesda. Otherwise, they'd pass this issue off as the "new and innovative analog stick A.I."

But yeah, it's pretty damm ludicrous that this issue has gone on for so long. My left JoyCon has been drifting for a while now. It's still usable, but I'd rather get it fixed than continue to play with a half-faulty controller.

"Recent" reports?! LOL

@AlternateButtons oh, before I go, I'm SUPER curious as to how those of us that have joy-con drift SHOULD be taking care of their joy-cons? PLEASE, oh careful one, tell us how to take care of our joy-cons..

@thesilverbrick Please define "normal use". Because they actually DO NOT break under "normal use". They do break under "abnormal use" or "abuse" just like any electronic product. But it's up to the Jury of this lawsuit to confirm if there is a design flaw or if it's consumer abuse.

@Christo114 Oh I agree. But it's not everyone, so it's not every joycon. I've read some comments that some people have had atrocious luck. But none of my joycons are doing it and I am grateful for that. It leads me to suspect the problem might be limited to joycons manufactured at a certain location, or at a specific time.

@AlternateButtons if you don't have a problem with your joy-cons, it might be because you've had luck, or your Switch is new. Anyways, let people share their experiences without being such a meanie. Nintendo owes us something, we are paying!

I wish it didn't take a friggin lawsuit for this issue to finally get some response, but jeez, after over a year of issues, it's about time!

@thesilverbrick No it's not. It's only required when it is a safety concern. Everything else is optional. And contrary to what people are implying, this defect is not universal. Even the nonstop complainers on this site who joined in the poll did non say it was. Mine certainly aren't (and I am grateful for that). Personally I suspect the problem is tired to production from a certain facility or united produced during a certain time frame.

Not saying Nintendo shouldn't fix the problem, they darn well should. Just that they really aren't under any obligation to do so based on any law I have ever heard of. It would just be the polite thing to do and good business.

@AlternateButtons ahh. Why didn't I think of that? It's definitely good humor to mock people having problems with their s***. I didn't see that before, but now you've shown me the way. Thanks Mr. Buttons!

Does it cost money to get your Joy Con repaired by them?

Verge is a garbage site lol

@Xelha
Nintendo only "recently" got a class action lawsuit.

That's not much of a response. I want them to make an actual statement.

What if I try to call and they tell me, oh sorry but yours is out of warranty. I have been out of warranty since August of 2018, but my left Joy-Con started doing that since a few months later in October.

Own goal. Wonder how this will affect the Lite consoles? As a seasoned owner I would not touch one with a barge pole.

@Heavyarms55 yes nobody is being physically hurt by the issue but consumers are being financially hurt as the cost of new joy-cons is a relatively expensive fix.

This and the fact that US lawyers love to sue at the first sight of blood is the reason behind the the class action lawsuit.

As far as this “statement” is concerned, it’s severely lacking in information and solution imo.

@spirit_flame me neither and I hope for Nintendo’s sake they have made hardware changes to the Lite...

I haven't seen or read any response by Nintendo. Other than what is printed above, refer gamers to a Web page. So far my joy con's are OK.

@Heavyarms55 go watch Spawn Waves video on Why it Drifts. You'll see there's far more to it than that.

Oh dear, quite a poor response. With them being taken to court this wont cut it.... Surely they can't expect this to resolve anything.

So basically the answer is we know and have always knowing and we just don't care.

Hey @NintendoLife why don’t you do a survey to see where in the world the most defective JCs are? I have four JCs and a pro controller and I haven’t experienced any drift and I’m in the UK. Would be interesting to know...

They havent addressed it at all, they are just saying, we know but look at our support pages and find no information on there either.

@beazlen1 I am in the UK too and have had trouble with my left one

I am lucky to have 4 pairs of them and only one got the dreaded drift, fixed it with electronic contact cleaner and had zero issues since then. My advice to anyone who has this problem is to apply few sprays of electro contact cleaner on the sticks themselves and the sticks will be back like new! Thank me later!

I've been reading into this and this seems to be a hardware issue. Nintendo can address the issue going forward and they can put in place some plans to replace ones out there at the moment if need be.

@Rayquaza2510

I hear you man, but not everything is one to one. I mean you talk about vita sticks working 7 years later, but I along with quite a few others that I know have had to buy multiple full on ps1 & 2 systems because they kept eating disc and getting disc read errors (some even making it two years). Not to mention that we at least see it is not a consistent theme of theirs and like you said you can pull out an S controller and even some of the others and they (along with the systems) work to this day.

And we've certainly had problems with ps4 controllers wearing down and a bit of stick as well. With any device, sometimes there are problems. As nothing man-made is ever perfect. We can always look at something that went right elsewhere to complain about what's going wrong now. History shows though that they usually have high quality products. It could be anything from a certain plant shipping out these things to something else. As there's legitimately people out there who have never had an issue with the joycon in their life so far

On the other hand, there are people who act like there is no issue and that's not fair to those that have had them. As Ive witnessed the issue in the wild myself with someone. The best I can hope for is that they do right by the customers and get the issue resolved like yesterday.

LOL. "We are aware of recent reports that some Joy-Con controllers are not responding correctly. We want our consumers to have fun with Nintendo Switch, and if anything falls short of this goal we always encourage them to visit http://support.nintendo.com so we can help."
1) Its not 'some' joycon, it's ALL joycon. 2) not 'responding correctly' is putting it lightly. They control themselves. 3) I DID contact the support folks and they told me to buy new ones.

Well I'v never had any issues with my joycons, do I win a prize?

What a tonedeaf response.

But what happens to those who have the Switch for more than 2 years now? There's no warranty already. And it keeps happening.

I don't understand how you can file a lawsuit about a faulty product. Surely if a company sells a faulty product then thats their problem. Hardly breaking the law is it. Can't see this going anywhere.

while they're at it they might as well just put the right stick above the buttons...it's so uncomfortable to press the face buttons on joy-con because the stick is always in the way. (this does not apply to the pro controller as there you can comfortably place your thumb to the right of the stick to press the buttons but on the joy-con that's not really possible)

@gwyntendo
It's a form of false advertising, they are selling you a product that they assure you works and has no technical issues. No-one advertises that their product is broken.

It's the sort of response that I would expect any big company to make. I'm sure every word was carefully chosen by a very expensive lawyer,

@farmer_humpf
Yeah, they're not admitting that it's a design flaw or accepting responsibility for any issues that have occurred because of it, they're just saying they're aware that people are talking about it.

I seem to be in the minority of people who has never had any issues. Own 2 pairs of joycon, one since launch and the other from about 6 months after. All still working fine.

@mauhlin12 I literally just created my account so I could like your comment. Congratulations, sir

@GetShulked The article released last week came out a day before I bought my Switch. I almost didn't want to buy it and deal with quality issues..But, I bought it anyway because I wanted one since it's release and I never heard anyone complain about drifting joy-cons. I asked my son about it who has a Switch and he told me, "yes", sometimes that happens. Well, hopefully they'll be a software update or some simple solutions to make them more stable. I haven't had any problems myself..

@SuperWeird I never played a Switch for more than a minute before last Friday when I finally bought mine. he controllers whether docked to the unit or not felt natural right from the get go.

Nintendo handhelds have been having issues since at least the SP...not sure about the original GBA, but the microswitches in the R and L buttons are nefarious for failure. In addition, the 3DS line also has major issues with the face buttons failing to make contact, since the XL line (OG 3DS might be different). I had one model sent in and fixed, but I have two more out of warranty, I'm going to fix them myself.

@antdickens hi thanks for replying. I mean a poll to find out the location of people with drift problems. It is a specific location thing or worldwide? It might shed some light as we drift through these dark times

Is that the best response Nintendo can come up with? Nintendo Life's own poll showed 75% of Switch users had drift issues.

It seems Nintendo can't even tell us if newer Joy-Cons have fixed the problem, which suggests they haven't. I'd love to buy a new pair to replace my malfunctioning set but I'm not paying £65-£70 for something that will likely fail again. Do better Nintendo!

As I said before I'm a lucky one I have a launch comsole.and 3 sets of joy cons.and mine are all fine.

@super-nintendo you just called them? What did they say?

I own at least one iteration of every Nintendo console and a plethora of accessories and the only one that has ever had to have a repair is my Switch's Joy Con. One had to be sent in as the analogue had failed so completely that it freely rotated in it's socket. Not long after getting it back the other Joy Con from the set developed drift which I've been fixing with contact cleaner. My pro controller's D-pad is also fiddly, often registering the wrong input, which for games like Tetris 99 makes it effectively useless. It's disappointing to see Nintendo have these kind of problems given their great history of solid workmanship but I understand that these things happen with every brand at some point but the thing that really bothers me is the total lack of response from them until now and that response is lackluster to say the least. It's a shame too because in pretty much every other respect they are absolutely killing it right now.

That fine line between genunie drift issue and mis-handed will be Nintendo's defence.

Even I'm not convinced all drift issues are legit just from the comments on here.

@gamer95: I saw his endless mantra on the post about the lawsuit. "Take better care of your hardware" was the only thing he was really capable of saying.

With his kind of attitude, I can understand why his YouTube views would be so low. Probably also upset that he'll never hit the big time as a Let's Player.

It took a class action lawsuit for Nintendo to acknowledge the problem...that's sad considering that out of the companies that still make consoles, Nintendo's QA in my opinion is leagues ahead of both Microsoft and Sony. And I say that as a gamer who has purchased almost every single system released since my parents bought me an NES back in 88. The only company that has a track record as good as Nintendo's is Sega but they are out of the hardware game. Hopefully Nintendo does the right thing here. I have yet to experience the dreaded joycon drift but honestly we only use the joycons in our home when the entire family (of 4) is playing something together and one person gets stuck with a pair which we have two pairs of joycons. Eventually I'll experience the drift.

@sanderev @PcTV A statement on HOW and WHEN they’re working to fix this in future batches, which is the thing we all worry the most. But it’s Nintendo after all, they’ll probably keep pushing this “send your controllers to our repair service” because it’s cheaper, easier and more convenient than redesigning the faulty components that are causing the drifting over time.

Remember the whole fuss about 3DS circle pad coming off or breaking, its upper screen “scratching itself” (which is still an issue with the smaller New 3DS), the DS Lite extremely fragile hinge and L/R triggers constantly getting stuck and unresponsive, the Switch Pro Controller d-pad... did they ever fix those?

Maybe some of you can help me out here, because I don't know what's the issue. I had a drifting Joy-Con (the left one) and brought it to the store were I bought my Switch. I showed them my recipe, explained what's wrong and got a new Joy-Con, no problem. Why are Americans incapable of doing the same and why do they always have to file a lawsuit for such trivial things?

@Xelha
The issue started blowing up a lot more when Kotaku wrote an article about it, leading to a class-action lawsuit.

Before then, it was internet chatter. Now it's even stronger internet chatter + a lawsuit.

I wonder if customer support is going to be able to do anything about my drifting joy-con now that the warranty is over?

I’m curious to see numbers on this issue. We’ve heard about drift for a while, but unhappy internet people are pretty vocal when something doesn’t work. Since some drifting has been solved by routinely cleaning the parts (GASP!), it’s hard to tell how widespread an actual design defect may be, since what we read is anecdotal. Anecdotally, of course, Nintendo has also repaired or replaced a bunch of these for free already, including several that were well out of warranty. Not a defense, of course, but they do stand by their product already if you go through the proper channels (i.e., not Reddit)

@sanderev By “normal use,” I mean being used to play games. A disproportionate amount of people have had their controllers malfunction, and they will attest to the fact that they aren’t treating them any differently than they have any other controller. If a large number of JoyCon are malfunctioning mere months after purchase after simply being used like any other controller, we have an issue.

"recent reports" and "some joy-con controllers"

Made me chuckle. Nintendo, many people have taken apart the joy-cons to try and fix the problem and it's glaringly obvious you used cheaper materials which are not durable or well designed at all and the fast wear and tear of the contact pads which read the x and y inputs just introduce more gunk build up which can interfere with the control stick readings. The joy-cons are not going to last long especially for the price paid, they need to redesign the metal sliders inside the control stick which slide across the contact pads to be less scratchy and the contact pads need to be more durable. They messed up.

@Heavyarms55 Consumer protection laws do not exclusively apply to safety concerns. They also cover potential “fraud or unfair practices.” Manufacturing and selling a premium product that routinely malfunctions for a large portion of consumers through normal use could very well be considered “unfair.” That’s for a court to decide, ultimately, but Nintendo could very well be legally required to remedy this situation. But even if they aren’t legally required in the end, I do agree that it would ultimately be in their best interest to do something, because their reputation (which is tied to their future financial success) is on the line here.

@electrolite77 Good point, hence the phrasing of the statement made.
Nintendo have been very successful in court over the years, however I think this time could well be different. So many people have had issues with the joy-con....
I just use my Pro-controller and play in docked mode, my joy-con are as new so it doesn't affect me really.

@electrolite77
People dont seem to understand this.

Once a lawsuit is involved, what you can and cannot say to the public changes drastically.

I also doubt that Nintendo or the JoyCon analog stick manufacturer has devised a proper solution to the issue, further limiting what they can and cannot say to the public.

Three of my four JoyCons developed a significant "drift". One I sent in for warranty repairs; the other two I fixed with contact cleaner. This certainly seems to be a pervasive issue, so it's a bit of a slap in the face for Nintendo to downplay it and tell people to contact their support department.

As for the lawsuit, I don't expect it to accomplish anything other than make the lawyers rich.

@AlternateButtons "Take better care of your hardware!"

I take very good care of my hardware. My Switch is over a year old but still looks brand new. I've never dropped it, and it stays in a protective case when I'm not using it.

Trust me, this isn't a user problem.

People have to understand that there are different meanings to the word "warranty". There's obviously the express contractual warranties you have when you buy the product. E.g. Nintendo expressly warranties the product for # years. Or you buy a supplemental warranty from GameStop or BestBuy or whatever that gives you another express written warranty on certain aspects of the product for a fixed time period.

The legal concepts / doctrines that serve as the basis for this particular lawsuit (and are an element of almost ALL product liability or manufacturing defect cases) are the implied warranties. e.g. Implied Warranty of Merchantability warrants that the goods purchased are in good working order suitable for a particular use (i.e. merchantable). Nintendo has breached this implied warranty by selling us a defective product that they know or should have known was most likely going to malfunction. This type of implied warranty doesn't get reduced to writing and doesn't have a precise shelf life or timing.

Experienced drift within a month of purchasing my switch. Emailed Nintendo, and never received a response. I started using other controller options, but I need to contact them again to get those controllers sorted out.

Should have to fix will the joycon drift for free. Make up for all the troubles have had with joycons.

@ChompyMage yes it costs just as much as it would cost to buy a new pair of joycons to get two of them fixed

My Splatoon themed joy con got the drift issue after their warranty expired so I never bothered to fix them. Now the replacement Joy Con I got when I had to exchange my Switch for a faulty screen have also decided to no longer work. The left stick either drifts on its own or sometimes no movement registers and my character on screen does nothing (this happened during the last Splatfest when I was playing at a friend's house and forgot my Pro Controller at home). So now I have to play solely with the Pro Controller. I don't trust the Joy Con.

@rushiosan Pretty much all of those were addressed with hardware revisions, and fixes for the people affected (If they bothered to send them to Nintendo, obviously).

@AlternateButtons Not worth my time. Hello, ignore list.

@Heavyarms55 That’s possible, and a ton of people are saying that it’s the graphite in the joycons that break down, or its that dust gets in really easily, so idk. Could be all of those reasons.

@manu0 but that would mess up the switch’s logo

@PcTV Except almost all the problems I listed still persisted on hardware revisions - DSi L/R still get unresponsive after some use, New 3DS still shipped with a “scratchable” upper screen four years later, rubber caps still come off and the Pro Controller d-pad was only fixed in two special editions (the most recent batches, including the SSB edition, still have a bad d-pad). If you love sending electronics to repair service and paying for a fix (warranty won’t last forever), I’d say go on and have fun, but don’t call that a proper solution, it’s far from being one.

Their quality control dropped significantly after GameCube/Game Boy Advance era.

Welp there you go, Nintendo gave a response. Can the pitch forks be retired now?

@Christo114 for a second I thought it was a Chernobyl-related joke when I read “graphite”.

There is somebody on here giving EVERYBODY a thumbs a down, even the top comments that are CORRECT in every way. Facts not opinions. The joy cons drift. This person either can’t stand the idea that Nintendo made a flawed product and people tell the truth about it, or has MAGIC DRIFTLESS JOYCONS. And is holding out on us!

@rushiosan The New 3DS did get a revised screen.
I have a second generation black Pro Controller (bought around the time the Xenoblade one came out) it doesn't have the D-pad issue.
No need to get cheeky, no one thinks it's fun to send their stuff to get repaired. I'm just saying people pretend it doesn't exist or inaccessible.

@Rayquaza2510 5 of them and you couldn't figure out how screwdrivers work? It would cost $5 to replace the stick.

"Recent reports", "Some Joy-Con controllers"... They're not getting it fixed, are they?

@PcTV In fact, their repair service is inaccessible in a lot of countries, but they just pretend they’re globally supportive.

@rushiosan While I can't speak for every country where Nintendo sells their consoles and games, I've seen people say that it's unavailable in countries like Mexico, and I can tell you from personal experience it does exist in my country.

This will go nowhere. Drifting is caused by dust or other substances getting into the controller. This means the controllers are not faulty themselves. This happens with any controller over time or use. Most co trollers are not thrown into bags or pockets either.

At people suggesting Nintendo is insincere for putting out a meaningless corporate response: Regardless of your opinion on joycon manufacturing quality, it is wisdom to be fair enough to Nintendo to recognize that if they released anything resembling a statement that joycons are faulty products or anything resembling an apology, it would be used against them in court. Any lawsuit significantly limits what either party can publicly say and in any situation with significant negative press, keeping silent and only issuing generic statements until people move on is usually the best way to play damage control in the internet age.

@Christo114 I think that's likely, that there is more than one cause.

Consumer product safety laws are just about dangerous products, they also address merchantability and 'lemon-law' issues.