Microsoft has been embroiled in a class-action lawsuit filed over Xbox controller joystick drift since last year, and the corporation is now calling for the case to be arbitrated out of court. This potential landmark case was first brought up last year in April and finally received a formal complaint in October 2020. Microsoft presented an arbitration that seemed satisfying enough to take the lawsuit out of court.
The complaint was due to a "drifting issue" that Microsoft was allegedly aware of. However, Microsoft reportedly failed to disclose this information to its customers, and Xbox Elite controller owners were forced to pay to repair these issues after their controllers' 90-day warranties were up. The Xbox Elite controller hardware defect in question is located in the gamepad's joysticks, whose vital potentiometers have been called defective by claimants. Being a hardware issue, this apparent problem affects not just Xbox players, but PC Xbox gamepad users, as well.
In a Washington Court motion obtained by VGC , Microsoft planned for a solution that would call the lawsuit out of court in arbitration, a move possibly inspired by the all-too-similar Nintendo Switch Joy-Con drift case. Specifically targeting Xbox customer claimants and citing the Microsoft Services Agreement that all Xbox Live users agree to, Microsoft argues that these class members have already contractually agreed to "arbitrate disputes on an individual basis using a consumer-friendly process before the American Arbitration Association."
Microsoft's primary goal in this motion is obviously to break up the "class" bit of the class-action lawsuit it currently faces, likely in a bid to get an "impartial adjudicator" from the American Arbitration Association to decide individual Xbox Elite stick drift cases separately to avoid the likely greater monetary amount it would have to pay out in a class-action settlement. It's nothing short of an anti-consumer move, and it's one that also conveniently ignores that not every claimant has agreed to the Microsoft Services Agreement - namely, PC players who don't use Xbox Live or Xbox Game Pass for PC. It remains to be seen if a Washington judge will grant Microsoft's motion, but a similar outcome in the Nintendo Switch Joy-Con class-action lawsuit has set precedent for forced arbitration to be the norm when it comes to controller defects.
Issues like this are one of several possible reasons why Sony's PlayStation 5 is greatly outselling the Xbox Series X/S, as its comparative lack of player loyalty isn't helped by public perception of Microsoft as a cold, calculating corporation that doesn't really care about end users. While that could easily describe any massive tech company (including Sony), players affected personally by these and other Xbox are right to be frustrated. While the amazing graphics and performance of the Xbox Series X is one thing, this is not a good look for a console manufacturer that relies on player trust to drive its subscriptions and sales.
Source: VGC