Nintendo finally apologizes for Joy-Con drift amid lawsuit
The Nintendo Switch controller has had some issues
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TheNintendo Switchis a fantastic console but when it comes to the Switch’s Joy-Con controllers, many players have experienced issues with something known as ‘Joy-Con drift’. While this issue hasn’t affectedallplayers, there have been many reports of Switch users finding that their controllers sometimes register movement, without the analog stick having been touched.
Players have been reporting Joy-Con drift since the hybrid console’s release back in 2017 and now, three years later, Nintendo has finally apologized for the issue.
During a Japanese Q+A meeting (viaNintendo Life), Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa finally apologized for the “inconvenience” caused by Joy-Con drift. However, due to an ongoing lawsuit around Joy-Con drift, Furukawa couldn’t say any more.
Joy-Con lawsuit
An apology from Nintendo may be too little too late, as aclass action lawsuit has been filed against Nintendo of Americaby US law firmCSK&D"on behalf of purchasers of Switches and Joy-Con controllers," given the “alleged defects”.
At the time, Nintendo released a statement toThe Vergesaying:
“At Nintendo, we take great pride in creating quality products and we are continuously making improvements to them. 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 visithttp://support.nintendo.comso we can help.”
This lawsuit was first filed back in July 2019, with theNintendo Switch Liteadded to the suit a few months later, following similar reports of drifting controls.
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As we’ve mentioned, the lawsuit is ongoing and last we heard it was being sent to arbitration, which means an arbitrator (or unbiased middle-man) would be assigned to settle the case out of court.
Hopefully Nintendo will fix this issue in any future hardware, such as the Nintendo Switch 2, but until then, the company isoffering to fix drifting Joy-Con controller free of charge.
An award-winning games journalist, with seven years of experience in games journalism and a degree in journalism from City University, London, Vic brings experience from IGN, Eurogamer, The Telegraph, VG247, Dot Esports and more to the TechRadar table. You may have even heard her on the radio or speaking on a panel, as she’s previously appeared on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5, BBC Radio Ulster and more. Not only is Vic passionate about games, but she’s appeared on both panels and podcasts to discuss mental health awareness. Make sure to follow her on Twitter for more.
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