Nintendo Launches Subscription Service For Switch Repairs In Japan

Little bit scummy when their Joy Con products are poorly designed and have drift. But from a broader perspective, it's not a bad price for the all inclusive aspect of it. I'm biased because of the joy con issue. I've spent close to $60 in Joy con repairs which is a pain. For the same two sets for years. And I have drift again...some were free some were charged.

What would be more attractive is that the controllers didn't have such a high defective rate.

6 repairs a year?! What are they doing with their Switch that I am not doing...?!!

@KindofaBigDeal newly manufactured joycons will not drift anymore. The old ones with a $6 replacement stick will not drift either. It's too cheap of a repair to Nintendo not do a recall.

I was about to say that's pretty scummy, but actually £12 per year for 6 repairs and includes accidental damage sounds like a nice deal.

@abdias That's news to me. How can I tell which sticks are drift-proof?

It's not exactly a good optic when you're telling customers they may need repairs six times a year.

If they are limiting repairs to six times a year they obviously know there is an ongoing issue.

One of the white joycons on my switch oled (manufactured recently) went within a couple of months and the whole process to get it fixed took a couple of weeks.

If it were cheaper to by a spare set, it wouldn't have bothered me but due to the cost, this was my only control so I was left unable to play my switch.

For God's sake.

What the ACTUAL F?????????

Nintendo is gonna Nintendo, the most arrogant company in the world to think customers are supposed to pay a subscription service for repairing your poorly built product.

Love Nintendo as a game studio, I absolutely hate Nintendo as a company.

I’ve had multiple problems with every single joy con ive owned since launch day.

Loved the idea of them but to many corners cut.

Nintendo, here's a better idea: make controllers that last longer without needing repairs. A real maverick idea, I'm aware but it JUST might improve your public image more than taking advantage of a problem you created.

It’s cheap, but out of principle, you shouldn’t have to pay in to this service when the problem lies with them and their manufacturing practice in the first place.

Let's not fix the problem at the source, let's make people pay for it twice.

Seems about right.
🙄

Nintendo was known for being a company that despite all their problems, they genuinely care about making products that are built to last.

Until the Joy-Cons came along.

I think this is fair enough since it is covering accidental damage, like an insurance policy.

I don't know how it works in other regions, but here in the UK Nintendo's repair service have repaired my drifting joy cons 5 or 6 times for free, despite them being 4-5 years old.

I've got 3 drifting Joycons and an AC adapter thats being held together by electrical tape. I'd get my $15 worth.

It IS a good deal but can't help but feel sketchy about it

@abdias and with new how new are they?

Because I do now few people that already have driting (again) with joy-cons produced in 2022.

If you buy a product that needs 6 repairs a year, it's obviously not a good product.

All controllers in the world get drift problems at some point when enough dust slips inside. Some are just designed better, so that it happens much later.
I've had my joycons since 2017 and none of them drifts. I never really use them either, but my Pro Controllers, which I use all the time have drift issues.

Let’s be sensibly here the 6 repair a year is to stop one person getting the sub and send everyone they know Joycon off to get repaired but I still can’t believe the audacity of a company charging to fix a know fault with a product they produce.

@Olliemar28 “the service is known as 'Wild Care'”

It’s called *Wide Care, as it states in the image imbedded in the article. I assume ‘Wild’ is a translation error copied over from Video Games Chronicle.

ew. can this be considered in that court case?

I got the Let's Go Switch in November 2018. My right joy-con started drifting after about a year. Nintendo fixed it last year, and so far so good. Weirdly, my left joy-con is still completely fine.

Anyway, it's a touch concerning that Nintendo expect you to need 6 repairs a year.

@chardir I don't know if there is a way without opening. Inside is easy to spot, on the back of the stick metal housing, the old is flat, the new has a squary recess.

This is madness. Deliver a bad product and ask monthly money to take care of the bad build… what a world..

That’s very telling in how much faith Nintendo has in the quality of the hardware they’re selling. “Hey, here’s a subscription service so you can pay even more money to fix the overpriced hardware we’re selling that may break every other month. Join now!” Wow.

That isn't a good look.

Absolutely nowhere does it say that the Switch or Joy cons need six repairs a year. This subscription service covers up to six repairs a year.
Some people in this comment section really lack reading comprehension.

The most common word used is Scummy for a repair service that costs $1.50 a month…… Lol. Nintendo can’t do right by some people.

This is an awesome service though. Hopefully they bring it World wide. My nephew is one of those that breaks his Switch often…. 2 times this year already

@korosanbo how do they give free repairs in the US?

@BTB20 outrage for the sake of outrage. Guarantee these people don’t get mad at Sony for only offering a 1 year warranty on their PS5 and charging for repairs.

My understanding, it covers accidental damage or whatever most people put their mobile devices through.

6 repairs a year doesn’t mean they expect the Joy-Cons break every other month, it means they’re prepared for people with 3 pairs of Joy-Cons to have each one need repairing once a year. Or 2 pairs of Cons, the screen and the dock or a Pro Controller, or…

“Can claim up to 6 times a year” doesn’t mean you will, just that you Can.

It’s still not great statistics, but it covers accidents as well as drifting, so…

Wasn’t that long ago that a single repair to an out-of-warranty Wii or 3DS cost £30 just to investigate, let alone repair. So then you ask yourself “am I going to need 1 or more repairs in the next 3 years?” for a handheld device…?

And it’s still cheaper than mobile phone insurance.

If it was for the joy cons only then I'd agree it's a bit scummy. BUT it covers the other hardwares as well which actually makes it a good deal.

@korosanbo I thought you were about to make my day 😂😂 dang

Everyone is being so negative! Every 2 months you can have a joycon without drift for a few days! That's a privilege!

Pretty sure six isn’t going to do it chief! Just try and find an actually fix to the joycons, instead of trying to bank off of its defect, really scummy move Nintendo, but hey, it’s Nintendo.

Is drift fixed? I haven't had a new pair of joy con in forever, because I got tired of sharing with the family and bought my own switch lite, nearly two years ago. I broke it last week, but it never drifted. Can anyone confirm if the oled is drift proof?

I think it’s a fantastic idea at a great price. Fingers crossed it is brought out over here.

I’d pay that instead of repairing my own like I have been. 4 switch’s means I have a pile of broken joy cons at any given time.

I was looking for more nuanced comments on this, like if this correlates to the recent announcement of stocking up on components on Nintendo's side (a new revision/hardware wouldn't be mutually exclusive with this), and if there have been legal changes that have forced them to implement such a service.

I can see families with small kids benefitting from it maybe.

Not saying this to start an argument, and I am in no way stating that Joycon drift is not an issue, or claiming to know how many people it affects, And anybody having issues good luck with getting it sorted.

I have nine pairs of Joycon controllers and none as yet. (fingers and toes crossed) have any drift whatsoever, even my initial launch consoles joycon's are fine.

I can only state what I do for the record, I live in the U.K so not sure if heat or humidity might be a factor, pretty sure dust will play a small part in all this, and to this end I place all my joycon's in a drawer when not in use, I connect them to my Switch only when playing handheld, and to charge them.

Not sure if this is a factor, but just wanted to offer a counter situation to the many people experiencing issues on here.

I do expect the controllers to work for a couple of years, but I don’t expect them to last forever.

How many N64 controllers did we have that had loose analog sticks? 😂

I have 4 joycons. I never had any drift problem, or any problem in general. I´m afraid to buy games like Smash Bros Ultimate. I think this kind of game will destroy the joycons. So..i play more "disgaea" kind of game. It´s safe!

The fame of the joycon problems makes me buy a lot less games for Nintendo Switch. I like to play the same video game for MANY YEARS... and having games that destroy the controller, which in the future can no longer be replaced by new original controllers.... it's not cool. I've stopped buying many games like Mario Tennis...Smash Bros...and fighting games because they are more intense in the commands.

@johnvboy Yep I'm sort of thinking what am I doing wrong? 5 years in and zero drift...I did give them a sprinkle of contact cleaner a couple of years back but they weren't even having any mishaps then. Just simple maintenance like I do on my decks and my mixer. But then again I like to feather my hand movements on everything, not just games.

@Rykdrew Not enjoying something because of something that might POSSIBLY end up going wrong in the future seems like a very weird way to go through life.

Do you not travel in case a meteor hits you on the road or something?

me and my cousin Joy-Con up today has not suffered the dreadful Joy-Con Drift, i have the extended battery Switch since dezembre 8th 2019, my cousin have the launch Switch since dezembre of 2017,but many of my friends sufered the dreadful Joy-Con Drift.

@Kilamanjaro have you considered repairing the joy con yourself? The cost of a replacement analogue stick is very cheap and it's a simple repair.

Not ideal - the products should not be intentionally defective in the first place - but it should save you some money.

why japanese only have the privilege of having it Switch repaired?we should have this service avaliable worldwide.

Hopefully Joy Con repairs remain free here in North America. It seems like Nintendo's REALLY starting to rub salt on the wound.

This speaks volumes about their poor quality in recent years, doesn’t it? They are actually conceding that they can’t make anything of good quality AND they are trying to make customers pay for that mistake. Unbelievable.

This isn't scummy when you look at all the stuff it covers. Way more than just joy con defects. Read the article.

@SteamEngenius I have a huge videogame collection. Now, July, 2022, 44 consoles and going. I play 40 years old consoles and modern consoles.

If my intellivision controller broke, how would I buy a new one? But, the best part is that intellivision controllers don't break, at least, among the collectors I know and play multiplayer of the original pong to this day, there's never been a single report.

How will I play Switch portable 30 years from now if my controller doesn't work?

I won't die for not buying Smash Bros Ultimate if my second favorite genre is turn-based strategy like Xcom, Shadowverse, Slay the Spire, etc.

Fighting games, my favorites, I buy them for Steam Deck, where I can play them on pc, tv, handheld console, etc. without worrying, because it's compatible with a lot of different controls.

2 years ago I would have loved to play Blazblue Central Fiction on Switch...it's a very intense game to play, and one of my all-time favorites. I didn't buy it because of Drift, and because the Switch doesn't have a true d-pad in portable mode, useful in fighting games. But nowadays, with the Steam Deck, I can already play Blazblue around!

Everything is fine!

looks like a good plan to me. I have kids who already cracked a screen on one (still works fine). $15 a year to cover repairs on everything part of it would be a deal.

Oh WOW. Haha. Thats the saddest thing I've ever heard. Lol

@nocdaes I think young kids also own Nintendo switch consoles. Kids are pretty rough with their devices usually. I was rough with things as a kid, but my GameCube controllers and Wii remotes lasted thru everything lol. Joycons seem much more fragile. I also doubt anyone would need 6 fixes a year. It’s probably just a limit set to stop people from sending in other family members or friends joycons that get faulty.

That’s neat to be able to purchase an extended warranty (everyone is going to focus on joy con drift and not see this for what it is) but you don’t really get great warranties on game systems unless there is a controversy. So something good came out of the drift issues. Hope they roll out the service globally. Kids can be brutal to systems. Some adults too.

switch repairs as a whole is cool i guess, but are they this confident their consoles would break 6 times a year at average? no doubt joycon repairs will be a bulk of the repairs, which makes the fact theyre turning repairs into a subscription service all the more scummy. just seems like they dont wanna fix hardware issues or make revisions themselves, so they just let the customer pay for it

Yeah I kind of hate Nintendo more and more. Still love the games though. But the business tactics are despicable. This is basically like paying for a doctor who feeds you poison.

It's strange they're making a Switch repair program all of a sudden when the 3DS and other systems didn't have one. The price may be good, but the principle isn't.

@ancientlii the only way I can think of is if someone can prove that Nintendo is purposely making them crap.

@Frostyboy @gaga64
"the 6 repair a year is to stop one person getting the sub and send everyone they know Joycon off to get repaired"

"it means they’re prepared for people with 3 pairs of Joy-Cons to have each one need repairing once a year. Or 2 pairs of Cons, the screen and the dock or a Pro Controller, or…"

Looks like it's already pretty limited and doesn't even let you do that much.

One policy only covers one console (+ the joycons that came with it).
So if you have multiple joycons and the wrong ones break, they're not covered.
(You have to take a photo of the serials screen on the Switch when signing up.)

Have a Switch Lite? Your joycons won't be covered.
Have multiple Switches? Each one needs its own policy.
Trade-in for a new Switch? Needs a new policy.
Battery issues? Battery replacements aren't covered.

The way the terms are written, it sounds like if Nintendo replaces your joycons with ones with a different serial number, they won't be covered anymore either.

@bluesun If you have a Switch Lite that needs any fotm of repair this sub service will cover that. This service covers repairs not just for the Joy cons but also the console itself and the dock etc.

I have a question. Ive never had any drift issues but recently noticed pokey parts on the anologue sticks from playing so much. How do I go about fixing this? I heard ppl send their consoles to nintendo, which Im not doing. Do I need to purchase new joycons or can I just pop in a new anologue stick?

@bluesun wow, that’s a lot more draconian than I thought

Do we know what is actually causing this?

With the joy on drift lawsuit, it is unlikely to come to America any time soon

Does this mean that Nintendo would start charging people to fix their joycon, because why would I want to pay for a subscription when I could just simply send them in?

This is an amazing service and most don’t understand that this is not ‘a deal’ - it’s to the benefit of the users. It’s super cheap for your old consoles/hardware. The maximum amount is so people do not ‘destroy’ the possibility to over such a service, over use it and get overly um careful. Like social insurance can also only work if it’s not misused.

I clearly must be using my Switch wrong to not need a single repair in 5 years. Maybe I should scrub my floors with it?

Scummy practice. That said, my Switch Pro controller has yet to get drift and even if it does, YT has shown it's extremely simple and safe to fix.

My Wii U pro controller that I've had for almost ten years also has no drift. But all of my joycons have drift.

How is this any different for paying for insurance for any other expensive electronic device? Also who would actually damage their Switch more then six times a year? Even if you factor in Joycon drift it doesn’t happen that fast naturally. $2 a month is hell of a lot better then just buying new parts yourself

I love Nintendo, i really do, but this is a big F**u to his costumers
Well, F** 'em too!

maybe just make the controllers not suck...?

@Krysus you're just very lucky. but you're not the only one, i'd say 1 out of 10 folks i know with switches have zero problems with their controllers. so, it's not unheard of to be so fortunate. but a 10% satisfaction rate is pretty damn bad.

I live in Japan. Wow western ppl are heavily misunderstanding this. This is the most consumer friendly service out there. People first don't understand you can fix your joycons for free (might depend on ur country) by contacting support. They've been providing this support for over a decade (I remember sending my ds for fix). Unlike Apple care, you can join in whenever you want. Less than $2/month with a $1000 worth of parts. Covers the WHOLE switch with numerous damages. I know western people are heavily misunderstanding Nintendo, but Nintendo is not profiting from this.

@C-Olimar yes, have considered it and watched some videos online. To your point, it's definitely not ideal and I have more or less just been playing for of my Xbox to avoid the issue.

It's a pain when people want to do multiplayer on the Switch and I forget which of the 4 joy cons has the issue only to find out it's two of them lol. Might make some adjustments in the future, hopefully Nintendo has to just take care of this for free as the past fixes are typically done within a week.

I've had 3 pairs if joy cons, and one extra right side, and out of the 7, 5 of them have had drift.