I haven’t been a Nintendo Switch owner for very long. For those that have been with the little console that could, what’s called “Joy-Con drift” is a massive issue. So you might be sitting there wondering, “what the hell is it?” Well, Joy-Con drift is something that affects the controllers for the Nintendo Switch.
You might be playing and notice that your character, reticle, or whatever on screen is moving without you actually touching the analog stick. That phenomenon is Joy-Con drift. It’s been a huge issue for Nintendo for three years now. The announcement that they made today during a financial Q&A was the first time they’ve officially recognized it.
Now that doesn’t mean that Nintendo hasn’t realized the issue and tried to keep it quiet, though. They’ve been doing repairs and refunds for people who have paid to replace their Joy-Cons, but that’s not enough. Nintendo couldn’t talk much about it due to a class-action lawsuit against the company.
Is Joy-Con Drift Really A Big Issue?
If you’re asking yourself this, it means you probably haven’t dealt with it yet. The Joy-Cons for the Nintendo Switch are incredibly intricate pieces of technology. They pack all the functions of a controller and also motion control into one tiny package. It also means that they are incredibly expensive. Even when you compare the price of a normal Xbox One or Playstation 4 controller, they still beat them out by $10-$20.
The other hidden issue that hasn’t risen yet, is the Joy-Con controllers for the Switch Lite. If my controllers go out for the normal Switch, it’s a pain in the ass, but I can either send them in, or buy new ones. On the Switch Lite, they’re attached to the console. So if they go out, it’s time to send the whole thing in for repairs. The class-action suit by Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith finds that Nintendo is liable for both the standard Switch controller and the Switch Lite version as well.
We’ll have to see where this lawsuit takes us and if Nintendo recognizes the problem even more in the future. For the rest of us, have you had issues with your Joy-Con controllers? Do you think this issue is as bad for Nintendo as the Red Ring of Death for Microsoft and the Xbox 360? Let us know in the comments or on Facebook at That Gaming Show.
