Nintendo is being sued by a mother and her child over the Joy-Con drift issue in the Nintendo Switch console. Joy-Con drift is a well known and distressingly common issue with the Switch console that results in the system's joysticks registering input that isn't happening, causing the player's in-game movements to drift in one direction even when the player is actively trying to move in a different one. This ceaselessly troublesome issue has prompted a number of unconventional solutions from fans, some of whom have even taken to using an Android app in place of their Joy-Cons.
The widespread issue of Joy-Con drift has resulted in some considerable legal trouble for Nintendo. The company has been the victim of a number of lawsuits from numerous sources. Most recently a law firm in the United States began collecting testimony from players about the problems they faced due to drift, alleging that Nintendo's argument is that Joy-Con drift isn't a real issue. Nintendo didn't even issue an apology for the drift until after legal action had been taken, and even though customers are free to send in their Joy-Cons for repair, many believe the company could and should be doing more for their fans.
TechRadar has reported on yet another lawsuit, coming from a very unconventional source. A class-action suit has been filed by Luz Sanchez, who purchased a Nintendo Switch for her young son and encountered drift within a month of her purchase. The problem only got worse, too; after about a year, the drift had gotten so bad that the controllers were all but unusable. To remedy this issue, Sanchez bought a replacement set of Joy-Cons, but these only lasted seven months before they, too, began to drift. This second issue was enough to convince Sanchez that Nintendo simply wasn't doing anything to remedy the issue, at which point she filed the lawsuit.
Most of the lawsuits that have been angled at Nintendo over the Joy-Con drift issue have come from large, faceless organizations. A French consumer firm, for instance, recently accused the developer of manufacturing the issue on purpose as part of a planned obsolescence scheme. It can be easy for those who haven't struggled with Joy-Con drift personally to forget that this is a very personal issue that has inconvenienced a lot of consumers. Switch consoles are not cheap, and replacement Joy-Cons aren't either; Sanchez likely had to spend around $80 for her second pair, which she got less than a year of untroubled use out of.
Nintendo is one of the most beloved names in the video game industry; it defined the childhoods of no small number of fans. After such a long, proud legacy of brilliant, high-quality games and consoles, it's frankly horrifying to see the company drop the ball this hard. Joy-Con drift is a massive, unavoidable issue that has permanently soiled the Nintendo Switch experience for a lot of fans, including innocent children, and it won't be going away any time soon. This family's story is a particularly depressing reminder that Nintendo can and should do better. Hopefully the company will finally get the message.
Source: TechRadar