Nintendo President Issues Joy-Con Drift Apology

Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa is making headlines today, as a recent Q&A brought up the issue of Joy-Con drift. For the uninitiated, Joy-Con controllers for the Nintendo Switch have a major joystick flaw that causes the stick to input movement without the player’s contact. It’d be a problem no matter what, but it just so happens that a pair of Joy-Cons is $80. That leaves a lot of players unable to easily pick-up a new controller.

Nintendo did offer free repairs but COVID-19 put that process on hold, as most people are working from home or furloughed. Furukawa’s statement comes with a big caveat: a pending lawsuit limits how much he can actually talk about the issue. Still, his comments at least show some sort of accountability. In my opinion, it’s empty accountability, but here’s what he had to say:

“Regarding the Joy-Con, we apologize for any trouble caused to our customers. We are continuing to aim to improve our products, but as the Joy-Con is the subject of a class-action lawsuit in the United States and this is still a pending issue, we would it like to refrain from responding about any specific actions.”

The 2019 lawsuit was updated this year, as the class-action case looks to punish Nintendo for knowingly selling and producing a flawed product. As a Switch owner for nearly 5 years, I just had my first issue of Joy-Con drift during the COVID-19 lockdown. I play carefully knowing that this issue occurs and still had it happen to me. Switch Lite owners, whose consoles have the Joy-Cons built-in, are even more susceptible to a disruption in their gaming habits because of the issue.

Hopefully, the lawsuit or public pressure brings about real change for the production of Joy-Cons. With a ton of fun colors on the market, I’ve hesitated to buy more given the issues regarding their construction. Have you had issues with your Switch Joy-Cons? Let us know in the comments!