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A class-action lawsuit against Nintendo regarding Joy-con drift has been filed

iconmaster

iconmaster

Banned
After providing information on my Switch purchase yesterday, I received this today:

"Thank you for reaching out to us. We have filed a lawsuit against Nintendo regarding the Joy-Con drift defect. The lawsuit covers all owners of Nintendo Switch consoles and extra Joy-Con controllers. You can view the lawsuit here https://chimicles.com/cskd-files-class-action-lawsuit-against-nintendo-of-america-inc-relating-to-joy-con-drifting-issues/."

I don't believe Switch owners need to do anything - "the lawsuit covers all owners" and if it's successful, you should see a little something from it. The real goal is that Nintendo wake up to the issue and figure out a solution for it.

 
K

KINGMOKU

Member
I've heard about this numerous times and I have never had this problem. I must have been extremely lucky as I have 2 switches, and 5 sets of joy-cons.

Now if this lawsuit was about the asstacular dpads on the pro controller I'd be excited.(got three of those)

Sucks for those who have problems as these controllers are not cheap.

Edit* you know I want to add the only drift I get on any controller is on my xbox one x pad that came with the system. It's super annoying.
 
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Birdo

Birdo

Banned
The N64 analogue sticks also had a short life, due to a design flaw (They wear down quickly, depending on how much you game).

It was never fixed.
 
UltimaKilo

UltimaKilo

Gold Member
Birdo said:
The N64 analogue sticks also had a short life, due to a design flaw (They wear down quickly, depending on how much you game).

It was never fixed.
Click to expand...

My launch N64 controllers are still working. Also, have had my Switch since October with no drift on the joycons. I must be lucky too, albeit the road on my pro controller sucks.
 
Azelover

Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
Birdo said:
The N64 analogue sticks also had a short life, due to a design flaw (They wear down quickly, depending on how much you game).

It was never fixed.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that happened to me too. I could still play the games, but the analog stick lost its resistance completely, it felt like a loose stick. Ihad to buy a new controller after that.
 
Gamernyc78

Gamernyc78

Banned
Good I don't even use my switch bcus of the drift and cursor jumping all over the place. Shit is ridiculous and I hardly played it so it's like new.
 
dolabla

dolabla

Member
What exactly is joy con drift? I sold my Switch last year but don't remember having any type of issues with the joy cons.
 
Birdo

Birdo

Banned
I wonder if this could delay the Lite.

Having to revise the entire line this close to launch would be a mess.
 
Vawn

Vawn

Banned
dolabla said:
What exactly is joy con drift? I sold my Switch last year but don't remember having any type of issues with the joy cons.
Click to expand...

It's when the analog stick is registering movement in a direction you aren't pushing it toward.

On mine the stick keeps registering that I'm pushing up when I'm not. This obviously makes it unusable.
 
Zannegan

Zannegan

Member
I haven't experienced this problem (though I did have a left joycon with crappy range) but if it's that common, they should be made to fix it. If this is the best/fastest way, then go for it. Typically though, I think of class action lawsuits as token gestures for the affected and gifts to the law firms.
 
Shaqazooloo

Shaqazooloo

Member
I had issues with Joy-Con drift earlier in the year but now it kind of just comes and goes after I bought a new right Joy-Con. It hasn't really been a big issue for me in a while.
 
MagnesG

MagnesG

Banned
What's the most realistic outcome can be expected from this? Mind you the most expensive thing in Joycon are the batteries, each in them.
 
dolabla

dolabla

Member
Vawn said:
It's when the analog stick is registering movement in a direction you aren't pushing it toward.

On mine the stick keeps registering that I'm pushing up when I'm not. This obviously makes it unusable.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I can't say I recall that, but if this is a wide spread problem, they need to fix it. Hopefully if they don't, this lawsuit will get them to.
 
Fbh

Fbh

Member
Reading more and more about this. Guess Nintendo continues to make overpriced controllers with crappy quality. I remember both of my Wii Motes also had issues.

Guess I've been lucky so far as I haven't encountered this issue yet (bough my Switch in mid 2017), though I had my original joycons replaced because they didn't attach well to the Switch and one had that sync issue that was common early on. For an $80 pair of controllers you should be able to expect better quality
 
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Davey Cakes

Davey Cakes

Member
I was playing Streets of Rogue yesterday and I noticed that my character would sometimes move to the upper right without me touching the control stick. This is on my second set of joy-cons. I can spray some electrical contact cleaner on it to (temporarily) fix the issue but yeah, can't say I'm happy.

My first set, the beautiful red Mario Odyssey joy-cons, are just barely usable even after extended cleaning.

I understand that the hardware is new and unique. Nintendo is trying to make a handheld that controls like a console without having a bulky form factor. But, the sticks need to be redesigned somehow.
 
BusierDonkey

BusierDonkey

Member
The analog units in the joycons are just flawed. Moving the stick slides two “trays” inside the units that slide up/down, and left/right for the two axis. The entire unit is only less than 1/2cm in height so the centering spring is short with a pretty large diameter which makes it pretty inaccurate. This is why you can calibrate the joy con and have the drift return in a different direction. It’s not something you can fix permanently, it’s a straight up design flaw.

The other issue with the units are the use of weak brittle white plastic that degrades. There is no lubrication in the units from the factory so the two pivot points wear over time which also causes the units to center inaccurately as they become loose where they connect to the “trays”.

Most of the controllers on the market use identical analog units. Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo (pro controllers), and many aftermarket controllers use a unit that rotates two separate drums which indicate position. The centering spring in these units is smaller in diameter but is a heavier gauge and longer providing higher tension. The base of the units also has white grease inside so that the slide attached to the centering spring doesn’t wear as it slides around the base plate. On these units drift is usually caused when there isn’t enough of this grease and the pad wears against the base causing it to become uneven, which causes the spring to rest off center.

With $150-$200 controllers on the market , the best thing you can do is immediately open them up and apply lubrication inside the analog units and reapply every now and then. With maintenance they’ll likely never drift. This is extremely easy to do on the Xbone controllers and still pretty easy on the DS4 and SWitch Pro controllers.

With the joycons this isn’t even realistically a possibility. For starters they are very difficult to open without damaging them, let along doing it more than once. I’ve repaired one of these units and opening it up carefully found one of the weak white plastic parts was simply broken at it’s pivot point. Applying lubricant won’t stop the main issue with the spring design, and in general working on the joycons is tedious. There are multiple thin ribbon cables, loose wiring, and pinch points all over the place. Working on the WiiU game pad was easier than a Joycon. I would have preferred the slider from the 3DS to these units.

Nintendo should never have let this through.
 
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iconmaster

iconmaster

Banned
Funnily enough, I just broke my ZL ribbon cable in the process of replacing a stick I’d already replaced. (The replacement wasn’t drifting, but it lost one of its rubber “skirts.”) So I ordered a new ribbon cable.

This Joycon is going to be more aftermarket than OEM in a couple years.
 
Warnen

Warnen

Don't pass gaas, it is your Destiny!
I have a launch switch with replacement Dpad shells and haven't had an issue yet. That said I rarely use my switch since I got finished with Mario Odyssey. Been holding out for animal crossing.
 
V

Vitacat

Member
I may join this suit.

I bought my Switch on launch day. Some months later when I called Nintendo to ask if they could replace or fix them, they refused and offered to sell me some new ones for full price. Yeah, no.

I can just buy them locally for the same price, and that doesn't address what we now know is/was a design/manufacturing defect. My money was not defective, though, so I would expect a non-defective product for it. OK, Nintendo?

MORE INFO: I moved a few months after buying my Switch, and now have it next to a TV in my bedroom. I use it almost exclusively docked. If I try to play using Joycon while in bed (which is what I wanted it there for) I get disconnect and drift issues on the left Joycon. It's basically not usable. I am not more than 10 - 15 feet from the unit. It should work fine, but doesn't. So, I have to use my Pro controller, which is relaible, BUT sometimes the Joycon are more fun to use and I can't because they're defective. Before moving I played it on a couch much closer to the dock, and didn't experience problems as often, but they did occur sometimes. But now we know it also worsens over time due to the way they're made.

BTW, the linked site is currently down.
 
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EightBit Man

Member
The ongoing class-action lawsuit concerning alleged Joy-Con drift issues will go to arbitration, it has been confirmed.

According to Law360 (thanks, VGC), US District Judge Thomas S. Zilly has allowed the case to enter arbitration, finding that Nintendo and console buyers had a "valid" agreement. Despite this, the same judge also rejected Nintendo's request to dismiss the case altogether.

The case was first filed back in July 2019; the lawsuit alleges that "the joysticks on Joy-Con controllers are defective, leading users to experience drift issues". A few months later, following its launch, the Nintendo Switch Lite was also added to the lawsuit as user reports of drift with the new console also started to emerge.

In November, Nintendo commented on the Joy-Con drift issue in a statement to The Verge, saying that if players aren't having "a great experience" with its products, they should "contact our customer support groups and we’ll do our best to help them through that."
Click to expand...

www.nintendolife.com

Nintendo's Request To Dismiss Joy-Con Drift Lawsuit Gets Rejected

Case will go to arbitration
www.nintendolife.com www.nintendolife.com
 
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888

888

Member
They did take care of mine twice at no charge. Had to go through some stupid troubleshooting steps but generally support was friendly and cool to deal with. They just need to fix it so it doesn’t keep happening.
 
M

MrA

Banned
Damage Inc said:
They did take care of mine twice at no charge. Had to go through some stupid troubleshooting steps but generally support was friendly and cool to deal with. They just need to fix it so it doesn’t keep happening.
Click to expand...
I've had no issue getting repairs either, but even. Nintendo would benefit from a sticks more resistant to drifting the repairs must add up,
 
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B

bronxct1

Member
MrA said:
I've had no issue getting repairs either, but even. Nintendo would benefit from a sticks more resistant to drifting the repairs must add up,
Click to expand...
I'm sure they've done the math on this and the cost to repair is lower than fixing the issue. There's no chance they haven't gone through that exercise.
 
iconmaster

iconmaster

Banned
Got another stick drifting badly, and Nintendo's repair centers are shut down right now. 🤨

This was the final Joy-Con of my four not to need a drift repair. So that's 4 for 4.
 
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radewagon

radewagon

Member
EightBit Man said:
Terrible, and unacceptable. (n)
Click to expand...

Totally agree. Nintendo's half hearted solution of just fixing something that is essentially guaranteed to fail is embarrassing to say the least. What's worse is that they seem to have not cared enough to improve a faulty design when developing the Switch Lite. Right now, with Covid-related shutdowns, the short-sightedness of their decisions is being laid bare. My hope is that Nintendo will eventually make good on some sort of permanent solution (within reason, even good analog sticks eventually wear down).

In the meantime, thank goodness for Hori's Split Pad Pro.
 
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