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Update, July 23, 9.06am:
Nintendo has now addressed the Joy-Con drift problem, directing aggrieved players to relay concerns to their customer support team.
Speaking to Kotaku, a representative stated, ‘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 visit http://support.nintendo.com so we can help.’
Moreover, the customer support website now shows three new notifications all about the controller’s problems and repair, and specifically offers Joy-Con support tickets on its Help Desk, rather than a general hardware support ticket. Though Nintendo has finally responded to the prevalent drift issues, they might not be out of the woods yet, given the class action lawsuit filed against the company on July 19.
Original story, July 22, 1.24pm:
Joy-Con drift – when the Switch reacts like you’ve used the analog stick or D-pad even when you haven’t – has been a persistent issue for Switch players. This Reddit thread about the defect that has been upvoted almost 27,000 times, generating over 3,000 comments, so you can see the community’s a tad disgruntled.
Even a Change.org petition can’t get Nintendo to break its silence on the hardware error and the only solution so far has been to fork out for another set of replacement controllers. Not ideal.
Sigh #joycondrift pic.twitter.com/2qiSQ5p2vv
— goky Ng (@NgGoky) July 20, 2019
Not even my Walmart is safe from The Driftening… #NintendoSwitch #Joycon #joycondrift pic.twitter.com/bpVvMc9gVV
— Micah (@SeekerofWorlds) July 22, 2019
Chimicles, Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith law offices has gathered responses from players suffering with ‘The Driftening’ to file a class action lawsuit against the Japanese video game company (via GoNintendo). Given how prolific the problem is, they were not short of stories, and the lawsuit was officially filed on July 19. The complaint in its entirety is available here.
For Nintendo, the timing of the lawsuit isn’t great. The new Switch Lite, Pokemon Sword and Shield, and Animal Crossing New Horizons should net a large number of new players to the platform, but if confidence in the hardware is compromised, it may miss out on expectations.
