Alongside the launch of the Switch OLED model, Nintendo has released a new 'Ask the Developer' discussion on its official website. While it touches on all sorts of details about the new system, towards the end there's some conversation about the Joy-Con controllers.
The Joy-Con controllers have been subject to intense scrutiny over the past few years due to reports from consumers that the sticks 'drift' over time and register input even when the user isn't touching them. Nintendo has been involved in lawsuits about the issue, and this week, consumer advocacy group Euroconsumers called out the Japanese firm over the problem.
Toru Yamashita from Nintendo's Technology Development Division explains how the Japanese company has been continuously making improvements to the Joy-Con controllers since the launch of the original model and noted how the Switch OLED Joy-Con is the "latest version" with all the improvements so far.
We mentioned that the Joy-Con controller specifications hadn’t changed in the sense that we didn’t add new features such as new buttons, but the analog sticks in the Joy-Con controllers included with Nintendo Switch – OLED Model are the latest version with all the improvements. Needless to say, so are the analog sticks included in Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch Lite, separately sold Joy-Con controllers, and the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller that are currently being shipped.
Although Nintendo didn't specifically state what has been improved inside the controller over time, more generally, it's focused on enhancing the resistance, durability and reliability of the analog sticks.
The analog stick at first release cleared the Nintendo reliability test using the method of rotating the stick while continually applying a load to it, with the same criteria as the Wii U GamePad’s analog stick. As we have always been trying to improve it as well, we have investigated the Joy-Con controllers used by the customers and repeatedly improved the wear resistance and durability.
However, Ko Shiota, who was also involved with this interview, admits that wear is "unavoidable":
Do you mean that, basically, wear is unavoidable as long as the parts are physically in contact?
Yes, for example, car tires wear out as the car moves, as they are in constant friction with the ground to rotate. So with that same premise, we asked ourselves how we can improve durability, and not only that, but how can both operability and durability coexist? It’s something we are continuously tackling.
Yamashita adds:
The degree of wear depends on factors like the combination of the materials and forms, so we continue to make improvements by researching which combinations are less likely to wear. We mentioned that the Joy-Con controller specifications hadn’t changed in the sense that we didn’t add new features such as new buttons, but the analog sticks in the Joy-Con controllers included with Nintendo Switch – OLED Model are the latest version with all the improvements. Needless to say, so are the analog sticks included in Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch Lite, separately sold Joy-Con controllers, and the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller that are currently being shipped.
What do you think about Nintendo's ongoing efforts to improve its Joy-Con controllers and reduce the problem of drift? Do you think Joy-Con reliability has improved over time? Leave your own comments down below.
[source nintendo.com]
Comments 88
R & D is a constant process.
hmmmmmmmm, Nope!
Get your popcorn ready....
After sending in my joycons for the umpteenth time, they have indeed stopped drifting.
However, they also have wireless connectivity issues, and a couple of them don't want to connect to the switch directly in handheld mode.
Joy Con Drift is really just the tip of the iceberg of the Joy Con Hardware issues.
And they’re only just now giving us this information?
I knew the executives at Nintendo were dense as concrete, but this is something else.
Conversely, if they did state what they've changed in the analog sticks, much of the market would avoid leftover units of previous versions.
Got the Zelda Joy-cons when Skyward Sword came out. Had no issues with drift as of yet and the matte finish on the controller hasn't even started to wear down. This was a big issue I saw no one mention on the launch day controllers. You could rub it gently and smooth the surface. By the time I upgraded, they were shiny around the buttons and the back where the grip wasn't covering.
@WoomyNNYes true but they likely have been slowly seeding those changes into stock. Unless folks wanna stare at skus and serial numbers I don’t think that would be a problem.
I have my Switch since July 2019 and I have had ZERO Joy Con drift
So, you want me to Believe, that you guys, were trying to fix these joycons? when one, people have done a better job fixing it then you, and two, Its been well over three years, Ya i'm calling BS.
Q : What do you think about Nintendo's ongoing efforts to improve its Joy-Con controllers?
Me : Well... At least it should have Super Eurobeat ringtone when your Joy Cons started to drift. 😛
So after enduring thousands of complaints, a couple of class action lawsuits, and nearly four years of silence on the issue...they decide to come out and say, "hey guys we've been working on it all along!"
Excuse me, I have a call from President Biden coming in.
@Anti-Matter Okay, that was excellent. Good joke sir!
NINJA APPROVED (for Anti-Matter)
Just as an alternative opinion: Nintendo fixes this for free and has an incredibly fast turnaround - and much better than a home fix. I know it shouldn’t be a problem in the first place but they’re doing their due diligence, at least to a degree.
Exciting to think they’re balls deep in developing their new console - only they know what it is. I reckon it’s a new much more powerful handheld hybrid.
@Pokester99 not true at all. Otherwise there would be no console revisions/accessory changes. Companies update existing product lines or replace them with improved/cheaper to make models all the time. This isn’t even isolated to game hardware companies. R&D is always working.
Yeah right. They just plop the same Chinese commodity joystick module into these joycon that everyone else uses, and that can be bought on Amazon as direct replacements.
This is absolute nonsense. Very very transparent nonsense.
Literally every Joy-Con I have ever touched has eventually drifted. This is not normal or acceptable levels of defective controllers.
I don't believe this for a second. They haven't changed whatsoever. The joycons are hard to use to the point where i put an entire encompassing grip on my switch for the handles. Every pair of these I've bought has connectivity issues with the right joycon specifically. Every single set and i own 4.
It’s hard to believe it when they are completely non-specific. I’m sure these updates have improved the stability of the controllers
Just sign on to a better manufacturer and pay for quality control. Past generations did it fine, no excuse now from anyone.
I’ve never had a drifting joy con. Then again. I almost always use a pro controller. So. Shrug.
JUST USE WD40 AND THE DRIFT IS GONE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@EarthboundBenjy Agreed, this was a huge mistake from Nintendo, bless them. Just send it in to them, they’ll have it back to you in a few days. Hopefully they’ve learned their lesson for the next console. At leat they provide us with some of the greatest games ever made. In fact I believe they’re the greatest developer the world has seen so far.
Yeah sure, Nintendo. I'll believe that when I can buy a pair of Joy-Cons and the shoulder buttons won't stop working within a few months.
Every person I know has one or more drifting joycons. By far the worst controller coming from Nintendo.
@anoyonmus My 2017 launch day Switch joycons started drifting last december(2020), at about 3.5 years old.
Lol. Sold those silly sh*ts on ebay ages ago. Pro controller or gtfo.
As the default control device for the NSW, it's an absolute shame that the joycons are this unreliable. As an opinion, it's even unethical, because we don't have a choice but to deal with the all the good and the bad things that come with joycons. Nintendo should've have been more transparent with the joycons at the very start and should've owned up to the issues much earlier.
It's great to see some countries get unlimited free repairs from Nintendo, I hope they make that world wide to prove that they stand by their product.
@WoomyNNYes well it lasted while it did
@Ocaz if you’ve had 4 right JC with the same issue it is likely to be dirty or defective connecting points on the switch console. Have you tried cleaning them?
Removed - inappropriate language
@beazlen1 they’re brand new. I’m not sending Nintendo anything.
I was able to get a free replacement for my left joy-con that was drifting. But on the right joy-con the SL and SR buttons won’t work and they want to charge me almost as much as a new controller to get it repaired. I can’t use it separately so I’ll buy a brand new one instead at some point.
Lol...
Nintendo shot themselve in their foot with this, staying quiet for soo long, and now with the oled release they open up a bit.
I dont believe every word from it.
At first i was having doubts about buying a new one, but for now i will keep my money and spend it on the steam deck when it arrives.
Trying and failing apparently.
FIX THE JOYSTICKS NINTENDO!!!
@The-Chosen-one pre-ordered the Steam Deck the moment it went on sale. Unfortunately, so did everybody else. So now I've got to wait like a whole year. Valve was "surprised" by the sales, which is psychotic. How they didn't expect to sell at least 20 million units (I'm guessing) immediately astounds me.
@nickeddowes If you're okay with opening up your Joy Con, you can order replacement sr/lr contacts for about $6. Looks like a fairly easy job.
Nintendo needs to extend their free "repairs" outside of North America. If you live in North America and you had to pay for anything, like shipping or repair costs, you need to get your money back!
@anoyonmus I have my Switch since 2017 (and Lite since 2019 and the Zelda JoyCon since this year) also zero issues here.
And I exclusively use these controllers, since I almost always play handheld.
The Joy-con is the reason I stopped buying all games for the Switch as of last December. I'm so sick of the constant problems I have with them. The joy-con drift is a constant thing, regardless of w/e fix a person does, it always comes back. Even with brand new sticks, paper trick, take the sticks apart completely to clean contacts, 4-6 months later they start drifting, fix, repeat. But drift aside, the constant disconnection problems, even in handheld mode, when the joy-cons are physically attached, is beyond aggravating. I DESPISE the joy-cons. FU Nintendo for designing these things like this. I can't wait to replace the Switch with the Steam Deck as my portable system this December/January.
They've not done anything about the joycons in the 4 years that the switch has been out despite 2 console revisions who are they kidding
@sanderev same here
It’s weird, I replaced my joycons three times due to the drift issue. But my Switch Lite has no drift issues so far. And I had my Lite for quite a long time now. It might very well mean that Nintendo has indeed improved the wear resistance. Also after last time I replaced my joycons I had only minor instances of drifting which was resolved by blowing air into it and/or recalibration. Nothing major like with my old joycons that all became unusable after only a short time
Several pairs of our joycons drift. Wii and Wii U analogues sticks never drifted. In fact, never come across drifts in any previous game controllers after such a relatively short time of usage.
@Pokester99 I just can’t see how fixing JoyCons for free is profitable for Nintendo.
I like to know if their is a statistic when and how the JoyCons will start drifting? I send the OG left JoyCon in for repair but had no issues since.
OK, they are talking about the big problem but this statement is ambiguous. What did they improve?
I've given up on the Joy-Con. The Pro Controller doesn't seem prone to drifting at least, so mine is just permanently hooked up to the TV. It's the least portable handheld console so far, thanks to those Joy-Con lol.
Well they've been doing an ass job "improving" them so far
@Scrubicius There is at least one lawsuit that specifically accuses Nintendo of not fixing the problem because they are making more money from selling extra sets of Joycon than they are spending on shipping repairs, and that's why they don't bother to fix the problem. It's proved to result in lucrative Joycon sales.
We must be extremely lucky. We still have two OG Switch from launch day and have like 4 different pair Joy-con's and none of them drift.
If anyone is familiar with the GuliKit brand, they've released a set of Joycon analog replacements that claims to have reinforced components. I'm lucky to have not experienced drift yet on my V2 Joycons but that is probably due to using a Hori SPP when playing games that strain the analogs. I have not tried the GuliKit Elves product yet but I will give it a shot my Switch lite sticks eventually give out.
All he is saying is that the manufacturering process is always improving, and these improvements will be integrated across the entire Switch product line as time progresses. I wouldn't read into any malicious intent here.
as stated in another recent article here regarding the Joy-Cons…if you’re experiencing Joy-Con drift, just sent the controller in for repair to Nintendo.
I had the original pair of Joy-Cons and two other pair that I purchased in 2017. over the years, there was a lot of wear and tear. and just this year, I sent them all for repair and received, almost like new, refurbished Joy-Cons within 48 hours! needless to say that I was a very pleased customer to have fully functioning Joy-Cons
Is there any teardown of the OLED joycons yet? So far all teardowns have shown no real change.
The only people I know that have not experienced drift are the ones that use a pro controller 90% of the time.
idk about that
I have had the Joy Con drift issue, but I've also used my Joy Con for North of 1000 hours.
I know the issue kicks in at different times for everyone, so it's not just a fair usage thing, but certainly for me I deemed it fair usage and happily replaced them.
I've never sunk as many hours into a console than with the Switch, but the N64 and Goldeneye multiplayer definitely runs close, and I know I changed my N64 controller 3 times.
So yea, in my view, it's fair use - but I have no doubt that the issue that results from the fair use CAN and DOES happen before fair use for many people - so there's definitely an underlying issue there, but seems to me most cases come after a LOT of playing.
DON'T YOU GUYS HAVE ANOTHRR CONSOLE TO WORK ON- IT'S BEEN 4 GOD DAMN YEARS.
Early 2017: There's a serious Joy-Con drift issue. Among other issues with joy-cons
Late 2020: Nintendo releases exactly same "drifted" Joy-cons with latest oled model
But also releases a statement that its "continuously working on improving the switch joy-con". We need to see results not empty statements Nintendo
Well, thats nice and pretty much confirms my speculation that the drift is less common in newer joy-cons/switches and almost a non-problem among Switch Lite. Just wish that Nintendo could be a bit more open to the general public about when and how they are fixing hardware faults...
@EveryGameBeLike Why? The current Switch is still selling like hot cakes.
I only want them to release a new Console, if it actually gives drastic improvements like 4K output docked, better battery life and peformance.
BUT! Most importantly that it will be fully backwards compatible with current Switch! Like both Microsoft and Sony is doing with the new XBox and PS5.
It's outdated and tiresome if Nintendo releases a new Console with zero backwards compatibility and that all Switch games become obsolete again.
That's the admission right there of what most people have known for couple of years now- the JoyCons were not fit for purpose at launch.
It pains me to say but I've really started to dislike Nintendo as a company, what with things like the cash grab that was the limited time release of 3D All-stars for example as well.
Compare this to Steam's transparency by producing things like official teardowns of the Deck and it's night and day.
I already bought two sets so constantly working on them doesn’t really help does it. 🤦🏻♂️
it is obvious Nintendo went as cheap as possible with them.
I love the Switch, but the analogues are just awful. They make some games borderline unplayable. There's no excuse for such poor analogues.
@andykara2003 They don't fix it for free in the UK I don't think. It's not a worldwide policy for some reason.
My Mariko-model hasn't had any drift happening. Or any other issues. But I may have just gotten lucky.
@VexingInsanity I just got mine back from Nintendo about three weeks back, free in the UK.
@Gwynbleidd Totally 😂.
@Pod I've had mine since I got my Switch in October 2017. No issues at all, only given them a single spritz of contact cleaner just for the sake of giving them a lil service.
Now if Namco-Bandai could only fix the control for Taiko… 😒
Nintendo has definitely improved on the design of the Joy Con sticks. The case of the newer Joy-Con sticks have an extra space in the middle, in order to make more room for the stick, whereas the older sticks case had a bump, due to the piece barely fitting on it.
All joystick controllers can develop drifting. I've had multiple PS4 controllers that have, but normally it's just dust/dirt and easily fixed with a bit of contact cleaner or canned air.
I've had my Switch since launch and my originally Joy-Con are fine, as are my 2nd pair and both my Pro Controllers, and I've played a lot in handheld including things like Doom 2016 which are heavy on joysticks.
Drifting will never go away, pure and simple. Just keep things clean and they'll last much longer.
If this is the stance they're going to take, then they should lower the price.
If wear is unavoidable, then how have other companies dealt with it without getting any major complain?
The new joy-cons will pass the test of time to see how durable they are.
We're getting Joy-Conned.
"By continuous improvements, we mean we put a little piece of foam-rubber under the stick. We're always looking at how to improve our products"
@Dragonstar I agree with you 100%! I too have basically stopped buying games for the Switch.
I have 6 pairs of joy cons ( I like to have all the colours) and thought all the drift issues were down to heavy handling from kids and clumsy people...until one by one over the last 6-12 months I've had sticks start going wrong. On my last pair of working ones now so should send them for repair but I'm all honesty... Might buy the parts third party as I no longer trust Nintendo and their hardware quality. I own a total of 76 Nintendo controllers across various systems and the joy cons are the only ones I've ever had issues with so they clearly have dropped the ball in terms of design or build quality this time.
@VexingInsanity They don't fix it for free in the UK I don't think. It's not a worldwide policy for some reason.
They only do the bare minimum and in the US they felt pressured to fix them for free due to lawsuits. Nintendo would prefer that everyone just go out and by new ones every few months.
@Laserbeak1982 Drifting will never go away, pure and simple. Just keep things clean and they'll last much longer.
What if I told you that I have never had to clean an analog stick on any other system? What if I told you that all my PS2 and Gamecube controllers still work just fine despite being well used and never cleaned aside from a wipedown with a dry cloth on the surface of the controller?
Why are you pretending that the Joycons are really no different where drift is concerned than any other controller with an analog stick?
Maybe try.. harder?
Yes but tires last years and are reliable until then and joy-cons don't. If wear is unavoidable after a few months they are not allowed to sell that cr*p in UK and EU and if they do they have to take responsibility for this "unavoidable" circumstance. Next time they can compare it to a glass of milk out of the fridge instead of using the tires example.
@NEStalgia They did something like that to "improve" the Bluetooth connection.
Wow, in these statements Nintendo is trying really, really hard to not say they've 'fixed' anything.
@BlueOcean Is that like improving tv reception by wearing a wire coat hanger as a hat?
@ULTRA-64 If you're not intimidated by jewelers screws, I'd trust self repair more than shipping them. And it's cheaper, too. I went and replaced, I think, 4 left sticks in an evening last year. The replacement sticks, strangely, seem to be holding up better, though or could just be a lack of Splatoon and moving to more psxb since then. Once Bayonetta is out, I'll be screwed!
@NEStalgia I might have a go to be honest, I've done a done of handheld restorations and Ive reconditioned about 50 N64 pads and sticks.....but the screws and wires were much bigger from 90's tech 😉
@NEStalgia It's Nintendo and their all-improvements version.
@BlueOcean It amazes me how they can't just order better analog modules... It's not like the joycon design itself is bad, it's just terrible modules for analog...
@ULTRA-64 lol 😂. Ain't that the truth!
@NEStalgia I only agreed with Nintendo when I was a very innocent kid. Once you grow up, it's impossible.
@WhiteUmbrella I wasn’t aware of this lawsuit regarding them making more money on selling more JoyCons. Could post a source? Would be interesting to read about it.
Their is a new one in the EU which you can read on here: https://www.eurogamer.net/amp/2021-01-27-after-25k-complaints-eu-calls-for-investigation-into-nintendo-switch-joy-con-drift
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