Video: What Actually Causes Switch Joy-Con Drift?

What exactly causes all this click bait recently?

@saintayu there is no news

It could be that though general wear and tear the system takes a beating and drift occurs. Mine has recently done this and I got it day one. Happy that Nintendo will fix this for me for free now and that they listened and then put the customer first. It will have no bearing on the SwitchLite of course, as if they would allow that to happen? They would never knowingly put something out that was shoddy and the fact they know about it means they will work doubly hard to make sure that the new system is nothing other than perfect.

Launch Switch, extra pair of launch joy cons... None have the issue. Is it that I just take care of my electronics or did I get lucky?

@saintayu It's July, most people are on vacation. So no real news. But in the mean time, advertisers need to be kept happy.

Barely anyone talks about the problems on the Pro-controller. I'm on my 4th one now... 3 warranty repairs on the Splatoon 2 themed one. All had the same problem with the left analog stick drifting / failing to calibrate properly.

Graphite caused the Joycon disaster, just like Chernobyl.

In my case it happened to me several times, and the first one it was on warranty and just sent it. They fixed it, worked for a while and then happened again, now out of warranty. So I looked for info, and found it could be caused by dirt, and watched YouTube tutorials about how to clean it, but it turned out not to be the issue, as it was really clean. So I tried recalibrating the stick via the system settings and that solved the problem... for a while.

Every now and then it keeps happening and I have to solve it the same way.

Curiously enough, I discovered it in BOTW, because almost every time that I returned from the inventory screen, Link started walking ahead by his own. And sometimes when I went to that inventory screen the cursor kept doing the opposite: going down.

That "going down" issue also happened with Sega Ages games' menus, and more recently with the Switch's album of screenshots and video captures.

@saintayu Because it's a genuine problem for a LOT of Switch users. Getting as much information surrounding the issue as possible is welcomed by most of these users. This is not clickbait

Incompetence.

@Nassov "a LOT of Switch users"? Incorrect. A vocal minority of Switch users.

The true answer is being withheld at Area 51. And in over a month I shall journey there myself with my comrades to discover the secrets they have been keeping from us. -_-

@MagnaRoader I would say lucky. I've taken good care of all my consoles since the Megadrive and never had any issues with the consoles themselves or the controllers they came with. Switch is the first in 28 years I've had issues with.

I guess like the 360's red ring. It never happened to me, but I didn't deny it was a common issue.

@antdickens Actually the video shows a symptom of the problem. NOT the cause of the problem (which is abuse of the controller). So the title is 100% clickbait. If you start scratching tweezers on a pad that pad is going to break. That's 100% true. That will happen with any electronic pad, this is why they aren't made with tweezers.

@sanderev

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/07/poll_have_your_joy-con_been_drifting

75% of users have experienced problems according to this.
Admittedly, this is far from scientific, but it is rather better than the complete lack of information that you've used.

@sikthvash I got the Splatoon 2 Pro controller. My issue with it is that there's about 2 second input lag making it hard to actually use. The input lag happens with the motion control too which makes it nigh unusable. Happens both wired and wireless.

Funnily enough though it works perfectly fine plugged into my PC.

@Franklin A poll gives 0% indication of the result. People who don't have problems won't read the poll, and are less likely to vote. Also the problem exists, but is caused by abuse of the controller.

The problem will not occur by normal use.

Gotta milk, milk, milk that cow before it runs dry.

On topic, I love those arrogant people who just have to assume that if it never happened to them it’s “blown out of proportion” and “your fault for not taking proper care”.
To all of you annoying people I’ll say that yes, I’ve experienced drifting on my left Joy-Con, I’ve sent it to Nintendo, they repaired it, but now it disconnects from the console on its own, after Nintendo gave it back to me.
But more importantly, I’ve had every single Nintendo console and handheld since the N64 (also, a PS3 and PS4), and I’ve NEVER EVER had any problems with any console or peripheral.
At most, my Wii struggles to read some heavier games like The Last Story, but that issue started arising after approximately 5 years of owning a launch model console. The Joy-Con, on the other hand, only took 9 or so months to malfunction.

Seeing how many people tell similar stories, it’s pretty much undisputable that Joy-Con are not that well made to begin with, especially when compared to older Nintendo consoles and handhelds.

I just went through to be sure, and checked all 4 sets of joycon I own from the ones that came with my launch day Switch, the grey ones, my neon red/blue set, my Splatoon 2 set and my Mario Red set.

No drift. Hmm. This isn't a universal issue. And I'm not arrogant or a jerk for pointing that out.

@sanderev alternative buttons is that you? Bore off you troll.

@nintendolie yup, JUST like Chernobyl. Nailed it.

@sanderev

I have conceded that the poll is far from a perfect indication, but it gives more than zero. That's just idiotic.

"Also the problem exists, but is caused by abuse of the controller. The problem will not occur by normal use."

Again, you've given no information. This actually does amount to zero.

And so the "My Joycons don't drift so there isn't a problem" Vs "My Joycons do drift so there is a problem" debate struggles wearily on.

@Heavyarms55 of course it’s not a universal problem (it’d be inexcusable if it were), and of course you’re not arrogant for not having a defective product, I’m talking in general about all those people who in past articles pointed fingers at others just because they didn’t experience the problem, which is grating.
To be honest I don’t even know why you felt the need to point that out 😅
“Excusatio non petita...” 😉

Back on track, though, I don’t even know who said what and I’m not referring to anyone in particular, I only know I’ve read numerous comments of that kind and ranted a bit about it.

"The science behind the issue"... or just some guy, with a camera unsuitable for macro filming, guessing what the issue might be because his tweezers can scratch something inside?

What might have been slightly more scientific would have been for him to strip down the thumbsticks from all these invulnerable controllers people owned before Switch and point out the material differences.

Or, I don't know, compare the innards of a drifting joy con to those of a non drifting joy con.

That was about as scientific as this site is journalistic

@sikthvash interesting 🤔 as I have no issues with joy con or my splatoon controller. Only thing I don’t like about pro controller is that terrible d pad. It’s very disappointing.

This continual referencing to the quality of future products is becoming quite tiresome. Its as if theres some sort of axe to grind.

There's absolutely no evidence as of yet it will have any bearing on future products. To the best of my knowledge any issues with one nintendo console have never really carried on into the next or into any future revisions, they are usually isolated issues, so the track record would suggest there's nothing to be concerned about.

Wait wait wait! A mechanical item is prone to failure when heavily used. Can someone please help me understand this?

These articles are great, they help weed out all the annoying twits who not only can't empathize with those of us suffering from this widespread problem, but who will still take time out to leave snarky comments and rub salt in our wounds.

I’m happy for everyone who has a joycon that doesn’t drift.
For all of us who do have the problem. Thank you nintendo for listening. And thank you nintendo community. Happy gaming.

@Franklin To be fair, NintendoLife might not be the best platform for a poll on this topic, as users here probably use their consoles more than an average user. The problem is definitely real, but I wouldn't read too closely into the results of the poll.

That said, I feel like the issue is a bit exaggerated. It's not like previous Nintendo controllers were indestructible or something (my DS Lite's shoulder buttons stopped working, and Nunchuk's stick feels a bit loose). That is to be expected with any product. Thankfully my Joy-Cons worked fine for close to two years before any issues. Too bad that some people have had issues way sooner, though.

@clvr I was counter ranting, it's cool. I've seen plenty of people going "Well lucky you! Shut your freaking mouth!" and things like that. And I felt the need to point out that mine were fine because 2 weeks ago this was a fringe issue that a handful of people mentioned was a thing. Now all of the sudden, looking at comment sections full of piles of angry and vicious armchair technicians, one might think it's this glaring issue affecting everyone. And it gets at least one new article every 12 hours or so.

@KoopaTheGamer

"NintendoLife is not the best platform for a poll on this topic,".

I'm quite relieved that I did not say that then.

Regarding previous consoles, to use my anecdotal (yes imperfect, but not wholly redundant) evidence, I would play N64 and and GameCube far more than I use my Switch now, and had far fewer problems.

I remember the N64 stick got a little worn out after perhaps 5 years of use, but it was still possible to use. When my Joy Con goes awry I can't really use it at all.

I have had drifting but it has been inconsistent. The bigger problem I has was the "A" button having a serious lag especially after the last Joycon update. It has improved slightly but still happens.

As far as remunerations and what not, I think Nintendo should address this in some form. It may not need a recall but a case by case analysis would be effective. I have had every console since and including the NES and have had zero issues with anything. Knock plastic.

@Xombie13 But a joystick or games controller should also be able to take a certain amount of use/abuse before becoming faulty...a class action lawsuit has been filed on the issue and Nintendo have agreed 2 repair the faulty units for free...

@Xelha Precisely that. That's not a current gen controller, it's a cheap plastic toy imo. ..not sturdy enough.

Cheeto dust. Mystery solved.

@MagnaRoader U haven't played enough Puyo Puyo Tetris, that game is intense.

@Nassov @antdickens I understand the need to cover it. I don't understand why we need multiple articles over the past week when they could have been combined into one really good article.

It baffles me why the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller keeps being omitted from the discussions about ‘drift’. The analogue sticks on the Pro Controller are also blighted by a similar design flaw and develop drift also. Not too mention the fact the D-Pad often registers incorrect inputs too.

All 3 of my Joy-Con sets have drift to varying degrees and my Pro left analogue stick is the worst offender for it.

To date, Nintendo UK have done absolutely nothing to offer a repair service. Unless you bought your hardware/controllers direct from Nintendo themselves (which I would imagine the vast majority of Switch owners do not, Amazon etc being considerably cheaper) they simply say not our problem.

Whole scenario stinks and has soured the otherwise overwhelmingly positive experience of being a Day 1 owner.

I’ll never buy another Pro Controller or set of Joy-Con from Nintendo unless this design and manufacture flaw has been explicitly stated as being fixed.

If anyone can recommend a non-Nintendo alternative for both the pro controller and the joycon, i’m all ears. Rather give my money to someone other than Nintendo when it comes to controllers now.

@Sim1 I understand that and I feel bad for anyone experiencing this. I will never say it's from abuse by user but more strenuous use from shooter games. I had 2 Xbox 360 controllers in the past and one that I used most started drifting from heavy Black Ops play. I could visibly see wear and dust from the controller breaking down. I hope this never happens to me and I feel bad for everyone involved. But it seems Nintendo is doing the right thing.

@Franklin Yeah, I'm not arguing that Joy-Con's analogue sticks are as high quality as on many previous controllers, as they are not. But it's good to keep in mind that controllers tend to wear out, no matter how good quality they are.

@Samwise7 Yes I don't believe any respectable company wud intentionally put out a "shoddy product" although in real world scenarios it happens, in this instance we have 2 question the "product testing dept." or possibly even the "R&D Dept", costs were cut and potentially money was saved during the process...nobody wud ever have expected a company as large as VW 2 have "lied" about their diesel emissions, but they did...its reality.

A £5 can of WD40 contact cleaner has served me well. It's a pain in the bum having to give the thing a spray every few months but less of a pain than being without the thing for weeks if I send it off.

@Xombie13 Lol exactly brother some of these games r extremely demanding on the controller and trying 2 tell a kid (for example) 2 go easy on the joystick, well yeah we all know the results...thankfully the Switch hasn't got Black Ops hey...It wud b destruction...

I don't have any shooter games on my Switch but yet my Joy-Con and Pro Controller both suffer from drifting.

If this problem is more user-caused and not a manufacturing / design defect, pray tell:

• Why does my Pro Controller drift downwards but my Joy-Con drift right?
• Why does my 8bitdo SN30 Pro (which I use more than my Joy-Con) not drift at all?
• Why hasn't my Dualshock 3's (that I've used for YEARS now over various consoles and PC) suffer from drift too?

I said this in another article, but it seems more relevant here. I had the drift happen to my favorite set of joycons. When I did a calibration test, it even showed the direction and amount of drift happening. So I swapped the stick out from another spare set that I had, and when I also installed the defective stick back in the other set... the drift was completely gone on from both joycons. I’ve used it quite a few times just to make sure, and did a calibration test, and it shows it snapping back in place on every direction. The drift is gone just from taking it out and putting back in a different joycon. I don’t know why, and maybe the reason for mine is different, but maybe some of them just get misaligned or partly disconnected through use. I’m thinking misaligned may be more likely. I don’t know, I’m not an electronics expert. But it doesn’t seem to be the issue explained in the video, as far as I know.

@Heavyarms55 you arrogant JERK! 😉 Just kidding. For what it’s worth, Nintendo replaced my right Joy-Con, which I got with my Switch about a year after launch. My sons right Joy-Con is drifting badly now, he got it for Christmas, about 10 months after launch. Hope you don’t experience any trouble with yours!

@Lroy if you have proof of purchase and it’s within the warranty period then Ninty are legally obliged to sort it out regardless of where you bought it so send your drifter direct to the repair service. And given yesterday’s news soon they will sort all JC drift issues, warranty or not.

I’d be interested to see how many people have got pro C drifters too. Another poll perhaps? We all love polls right?

Also, I think it’s funny that some people keep insisting that the problem is caused by abuse and not through normal use. Is abuse defined as buying Nintendo made games like Splatoon and Smash bros. and then playing them? To me that sounds like we’re using Nintendo hardware the way they intend us to. So, in other words, normal use. I take very good care my electronics and accessories. I know joycons are more delicate than other controllers, but they still should be designed to play the same Nintendo games. That’s the point of having a Switch.

Reckless driving

The answer is simple Nintendo knows how to milk their fanboys releasing an expensive but low quality controller that will last you as long as the warranty last forcing you to buy another one telling you that thanks to this new controllers you don't have to buy another console and you should be thankful for that

@Sim1 Yeah that's a great example. I think the lying only comes into play when people panic and see no way out. In this scenario, I think I'd be MORE likely to get a Switch Lite as if it had any problems at all, you can be damn sure it won't be joystick drift as they will test them within an inch of their life!

@MagnaRoader launch switch here as well, left joy con was the first time I've ever seen an official controller break, been gaming for decades.

So you were lucky.

@Heavyarms55 agreed, both extremes are grating, as usual!
Also agreed that this drifting thing has got out of hands here on NL, but we all know how much they milk hot topics like this one, Pokémon SS being a glaring example.

I'll send mine in when I can convince myself to part with that sweet sweet portability and just play docked. I usually don't do third-party controllers too often but I may look into investing in some third party joycons even if they were just backups. At least until this whole Joy con drifting issue is finally put to bed.

@Lroy
Yeah, i don't like that the pro controller keeps getting omiited either since one of my pro controllers has drifting issues with the left analogue stick.

Poor design is what causes it.

@MagnaRoader I'd echo others and say lucky as well. I'm careful with my controllers, and never had a problem with other console controllers, but my left Joy-Con started having drift after a few months. It's very annoying trying to play Breath of the Wild when Link keeps wandering away when I'm not giving any left stick input.

I also own a second pair of Joy-Cons, plus a Pro Controller, and none of the others have the issue, so it's apparently not a consistent problem. That's the way a lot of quality control issues manifest though.

@beazlen1 I’ve had two sets since launch. So they would be outside the 12 month warranty I assume amazon uk and Argos uk offer? Nintendo aren’t interested because I didn’t buy them from Nintendo UK store.

I then have a Pro Controller bought from Sainsbury’s in Nov 2017. Again, suspect now outside any warranty period offered by that supermarket. My other set of Joy-Con came with the second Switch console I bought in Spring 2018. Again, from Sainsbury’s. So again, outside warranty.

Because I didn’t buy them from Nintendo directly (why would I at the extra cost?) and because they are not covered by Nintendo’s UK store warranty of 24 months as a result. The person I spoke to simply wouldn’t help me.

I’ll be contacting Nintendo again and see if their stance within the UK has changed at all.

My job keeps me very busy so I don't get to play my switch as much as I'd like to. I bought a pair of neon blue joy-cons that started drifting just outside of the 90 day warranty and I did not use them enough to justify normal wear and tear.

Can we get some more Joy-Con Drift articles?

@Lroy you need to contact Nintendo's repair centre rather than the Nintendo store UK, technically that's not run by Nintendo but in fact is run by Hut. If you explain the issue to the repair centre and remind them about the class action lawsuit in America I'm sure they'll be more likely to ameliorate the situation.

@Lroy I don't blame you for being upset. I personally am going to continue to fix my own joycons as I don't feel like sending them in for a week or more.

My pro controller also started to drift about 3 months ago. While I thought I was screwed I did open it up to see if there was anything I could do. This controller is far more complicated then the joycons to fix so I did what I could with compressed air and closed it up. Good news is compressed air actually worked and have had no problems since going on 3 months now. Doesn't hurt to give it a try. If your pro is unusable then what do you have to lose? That's how I've been treating my systems as of late. If I'm not sending them in what harm does it do to try to fix it then myself. I even fixed my New 3ds this year by replacing the power board myself. It was basically broke so what harm was it to try. Going on 200 plus hours and still working great!

@Otoemetry I am talking about my experience to date with the Nintendo UK support website. I will be trying again to see if I can find someone else to speak to.

@Spoony_Tech Yeah, I’ve got enough controllers here to have a crack at fixing some myself and if I can get Nintendo UK to repair the others, I will.

@gcunit Thanks! As a scientist, I do not see any science here. It is interesting to see the controller from the inside but graphite is often used in such connections (and in generators, motors and everything what rotates) and, of course, it will wear down over the time.

For me, it is absolutely not clear why this should be the reason for drifting. Of course, it definitely could be the sole reason but then we have to do real comparisons and tests with different control sticks.

It is easy to cry "bad design" when one has absolutely no idea what a good design would be.

@MagnaRoader Honestly, considering the fact that part of the issue if graphite components being rubbed by harder metal ones, you might just happen to indeed be lucky and somehow got one whose luck of construction had them be of the more durable variety of graphite, I dunno.

At the same time the games you play and the frequency of your play probably play an hand in it for a variety of people, good or bad.

To all the people saying I'm just lucky or that I don't play enough games, I actually own over 50 titles on the Switch and have played Smash for over 100 hours... So it's not that I don't play a lot of games, maybe some of the first batch of Joycons never had low quality graphite? Or perhaps it's because I use analog caps on my Joycons since day one? (I dunno maybe the caps reduce the distance the sticks can go or something?)

@MagnaRoader @Ludovsky What do you mean by low quality graphite?

@Chandlero as the video shows, the mobile contacts part of the joysticks rubs against the black part of the circuit board that helps detect movement by acting as resistors(iirc, as mentionned elsewhere).
The issue is that metal rubbing against a softer component(graphite) is a good way of making sure that later "will" wear down over time. Another person also took out the circuit board in the past and zoomed close enough that the metal contacts even had left visible marks/dent into the graphite.

So even cleaning(which does at least clean out the graphite dust produced by this wear) is a temporary solution at best since ultimately the issue is the permanent damage that can result over time.

In a way it is likely the result that the joystick, rather than being custom-designed by Nintendo themselves, is a "standardized" mass-supplied part that can be gathered from many third party.

So to a degree that's both the issues with the stick but perhaps the silver lining.
The issue being that because it's such a standard mass-supplied part, build quality probably varies a lot from sticks to sticks.

The "silver lining", if at that, is that it's a mass-supplied part that can be most easily acquired for a pittance(it was 8$CAD when I looked online for it myself) and seem to be built such that replacing the entire unit is actually a fairly easy affair(since it come in a pre-assembled control box that just then need to be connected into the controller itself).

To a degree, this probably further explains why Nintendo just finally decided to just go and replace all existing faulty controllers(even ones whose warranties are no longer valid) for free since the sticks are so cheap(after all, they can be purchased for only 8CAD individually meaning mass-purchase from clients like nintendo probably can reach an even cheaper price).

This said just from the logistics of shipping it off for repair/etc, I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo might not simply nip the problem in the bud by release 6-12 months from now a new iteration of joycons with entirely different joystick designs based on mechanics less vulnerable to wear.

@magnaroader : I know it's not much but I often noticed my wear on my existing joycons seemed to happen faster in Zelda than other games. One thing I observed though was that in Zelda the controls often encouraged me to use the joysticks click-button features that are used in the game to trigger stealth mode or use the Sheikah slate's binocular feature.

Possibly it might be that when so used frequently, it resulted unwittingly in the contacts pressing even more deeply into the graphite contacts causing the aforementioned wear.

It’s funny that we now have elitist joy con users who are going to heaven with their perfectly cared for joy con while the rest of us are apparently going to drifter-hell for not seeing the truth...that we did it all ourselves lol

@sanderev by which you mean alot then. The problem is real, stop being so precious and butt hurt.

@sanderev hahaha shut up with the vocal minority shout

So questions I have: is this circuit board different in the Pro-Controllers? And also, what did they use in previous controllers? Was this design chosen because the Joy-Con is so compact? Surely there is a similar compact design in the 3DS models?

Thank you for sharing this video NintendoLife! I do repair work on quite a few different consoles from the Atari 2600 to the Wii, so it was really nice to finally learn what is actually causing the joy-con drift issue. I would have never imagined Nintendo's R&D could have thought it was a good idea to have metal leaf springs rubbing on graphite pads, since graphite is so easily worn down, but on the upside that means that it should be a pretty easy fix on Nintendo's end for future joy-con revisions. Just replace the graphite pads with a more solid and durable conductive metal like copper or aluminum and the drift issues should (pardon my pun) drift away. =)

@idrawrobots according to my sources they’ve written two more drift articles to go live tomorrow, they’re struggling to write headlines that will set people off at the moment.

@Samwise7 I agree with u cos VW was more about lies and that was much more serious than this Nintendo issue...as u say VW probably couldn't c a way out so they just "tweaked" a few numbers...In that specific instance they chose the wrong "thing" hey..oops...

@sikthvash Thank you, you're the first comment I've seen talk about Pro Controller drifting. I've had it since release and had no issues until about a couple weeks ago, but it's still weird to me that this happens after 2 years, when every other type of controller I've had are still fine, even the ones that are over a decade old.

@Jin15 Replacing the graphite part with copper would result in ugly sounds while using the stick and, of course, also the metal would wear down. Moving metal on metal is never a good idea.

Graphite is the only correct technical solution for such a construction that we can see in the video, and it still is not clear what exactly the problem for the drift is.

@mlj11 For real, some people cannot fathom any empathy. Mine don't drift, that's not a reason for me to write it off or troll other users for my own amusement.

@clvr That's a valid point. I can't really blame them for milking a controversy for clicks, because that's just the internet in 2019. Negativity attracts conversation and clicks.

Drift deniers are the flat earthers of the games industry.

"Kotaku’s report sparked an enormous response, with many others revealing they’d run into similar issues. This prompted a vague response from Nintendo, saying it took 'great pride in creating quality products...'"

Suuuure, sure, keep telling yourselves that. At least the Pro Controllers were very easy to disassemble, put sticky tape on half of the contacts, and firmly reassemble.

@gcunit maybe the real problem is the piece of plastic inside the stick.
https://youtu.be/Gr2L89C8XJA you can see it at 9:30 and it works!

I am legitimately baffled that people hear about this issue and say, "Nah, I've decided it isn't real based on personal experience alone."

I don't mind these "my joycons work so you're lying if you say yours drift" or "my joycons work so it must be your fault if they break" comments because it's really funny to me to imagine the response if someone used that line of argumentation in other areas of life. "I've been feeling depressed lately..." "What? I feel fine, so you must be fine too!" "Today's been rough, my dog died..." "What? My dog is fine! What's with this vocal minority of people who don't take care of their dogs and then complain?" "Seems like a lot of people are coming down with this cold..." "What? I'm in perfect health, so anybody saying they have a cold must be lying through their teeth for attention! People these days..." Imagining the look of bewilderment that would get and the likelihood of a slap to the face happening in those situations is enough of a distraction to make me laugh instead of getting angry, I admit.

@HexagonSun Actually this has happened to me personally, and I still think the people talking about it are a vocal minority. Two reasons for that:

First, it happened to my first pair of Joy-Con and hasn't happened to my replacement pair, which have been in use a lot longer. And it hasn't happened to any of the other people I know IRL who have Switches. (Not a huge sample, but five or six people, so I'm the minority there).

Second, the Switch is still selling by the millions and there has been very little noise about it aside from on dedicated gaming outlets. Now, you could say well, of course that is where people are going to complain. But think about it. Millions of parents are buying the Switch for their kids. Those people are not going to just shrug and ignore a crippling problem with their kids' expensive toys. If many of them were experiencing this problem, they would be complaining loud and clear on every platform they could find. The story would be all over mainstream news. Sales would be plummeting. That, too, would be mainstream news.

It would not be business as usual for Nintendo, they would be in full crisis mode by now.

None of this is conclusive evidence. I readily admit that. Maybe there really are millions of Switches drifting all the time and the story just hasn't hit the front pages yet. Maybe in another week or two this will be all over the news and Switch sales will finally fall off that cliff that people have been predicting since launch day or earlier. But it sure doesn't seem that way so far.

Ergo, vocal minority. Exactly like when stories broke about how Switches were getting scratched in the dock, overheating, breaking near the vents, amd disconnecting constantly. All things that really happened to some, but DIDN'T happen to the majority of users, no matter how loud the hubbub on NintendoLife was at times.

@bagajr It does feel the level of quality has dropped somewhat. My Pro controllers failed after various amounts of hours of use too - one had barely beem used and only clocked up around 40 hours of use before the fault appeared. I've had no problem with the standard black Pro controller or my Joy Cons.

@Tao that's bizarre! I haven't had any input lag issues with mine, just the drifting.

@sandman89 yeh, the D- Pad is awful. When scrolling through the eshop games you notice it more because sometimes when you click down it wil go left instead. Glad you haven't had any issues! I've had no problems with the Joy Cons either.

@JasmineDragon If I was to go by what I read in here, there's a handful of stragglers who are fortunate enough to have survived Joyconageddon™.

I mean there must be at least 80-100 million joycons out there, I am curious if Nintendo would give out a percentage of how many people have reported drift problems worldwide. Somehow I doubt it though.

Nevermind the drift, what about hand sweat taking the gloss off the back of the switch? I used mine in handheld mode for half and hour on launch day and the back was discoloured.

I always suspected the skirt, and I still think the skirt is part of the problem.