A consumer group called "Which?" is urging game industry giant Nintendo to launch an independent investigation into repeated cases of controller drift on the Switch joycons, five years after the Switch handheld was released.
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According to a report by Sky News, the aforementioned group said it has surveyed 919 owners of the Nintendo Switch in the UK to arrive at the recommendation. Even if the company has said that only "a small number of devices" have been affected by the problem, the aforementioned consumer group found out that almost half (40%) of the people they surveyed experienced controller drift on their devices.
However, Which? also found out that only 73% of the folks who experienced controller drift on their Switch handhelds ever contacted Nintendo's support about it. This is despite the existence of a two-year warranty for the handheld gaming console.
To cap things off, the survey also revealed that 19% of the people who did report their devices' problems to Nintendo never got a repair or replacement.
According to Which?'s director of policy and advocacy Rocio Rocha, their findings have shown that people still keep on experiencing Nintendo Switch drift. Also, these folks are "too often" left to basically fend for themselves when it comes to fixing the problem, considering how faulty controllers barely get replaced and even contacting Nintendo directly would put them in a lottery waiting for just the chance to get their consoles fixed.
Rocha had this to say as well:
The video game giant must also commit to completely free-of-charge repairs or replacements for those affected by the problem, and must promote this scheme so that consumers know that support is available.
In response, however, Nintendo basically stuck to the narrative that joycon drift cases are isolated incidents, and that they have been "making continuous improvements to the Joy-Con analog stick since its launch in 2017."
Well, perhaps numerous owners believe otherwise.
Nintendo Switch Drift At A Glance
It's been five years since the release of the Switch and still, no one can actually point to what causes stick drift on Joy-Cons - and how Nintendo themselves hasn't offered an official solution. As per The Verge, some users think the cause of stick drift is dust and debris making its way into the delicate electronics inside. Others say that repetitive use introduces wear and tear on the contacts, causing them to drift.
Either way, the fixes for Nintendo Switch drift are dime a dozen - but perhaps one user has figured it out. NintendoLife reports that VK's Channel on YouTube says the fix for Joy-Con drift is as simple as applying enough pressure to the right spot close to the thumbstick. Here's a video explaining the fix:
As for why Nintendo still hasn't released an official fix yet, the reason is anyone's guess. Until then, Switch owners will have to rely on makeshift fixes like the one above and hope for the best.
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This article is posted on GameNGuide
Written by RJ Pierce