Credit: Nintendo
Not a great look for a new console.
The new Nintendo Switch Lite has only been out for about a week, and yet reports are already coming in about drifting Joy-Cons. If you hadn’t heard, a lawsuit is currently being built against Nintendo for deliberately leaving in a defect in Switch Joy-Cons that causes the joystick inputs to drift even when they’re not being touched. As of this past Saturday, issues with the Switch Lite have been formally added to the lawsuit.
“I can’t believe it, my Nintendo Switch Lite is already drifting,” said an anonymous player cited by the lawsuit. “I was playing BOTW and the camera kept moving without touching the analogue stick. I tried to calibrate and update the controllers but it was still the same.”
After the lawsuit was filed back in July, Nintendo began offering free, no-questions-asked Joy-Con repairs for all Switch owners. Send ’em in, get ’em fixed, send ’em back. However, some Switch owners have reported that this is only a temporary fix, as they have experienced drift in Joy-Cons that were allegedly already repaired. To make matters more frustrating, though the Switch Lite is eligible for Nintendo’s repair service, since its Joy-Cons are hard-connected to the system, you’d need to give up the entire system to have them repaired. Switch Lite owners are reluctant to do this, since Nintendo’s repair service is infamous for taking weeks to complete.
There are no official numbers for those experiencing Joy-Con drift, but threads and comments have been popping up since the Switch first released back in 2017. As far as the lawsuit goes, there are currently 18 official plaintiffs across 16 US states. If your Joy-Cons are drifting and you’ve got a burning desire for some litigation, you can submit your formal support for the drift lawsuit here.
