Nintendo has issued a statement regarding the Switch's "drifting" Joy-Con issue following the filing of a class action lawsuit by the law offices of Chimicles Schartz Kriner A & Donaldson-Smith.
The claim alleges that several users have observed that the joysticks on their Joy-Cons cause movement during gameplay without being touched or fed any input.
"CSK&D has filed a class action lawsuit against Nintendo of America, Inc. (“Nintendo”) for claims relating to alleged defects in the Joy-Con controllers that are part of Nintendo Switch gaming consoles," a section of the law firm's statement reads. "The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, alleges that the joysticks on Joy-Con controllers are defective, leading users to experience drift issues."
While Nintendo hasn't responded to the claim directly, the company has addressed Switch owners, whom they advise to head to its customer support website if they experience any issues with the controllers.
“At Nintendo, we take great pride in creating quality products and we are continuously making improvements to them,” a Nintendo representative told Kotaku. “We are aware of recent reports that some Joy-Con controllers are not responding correctly. We want our consumers to have fun with Nintendo Switch, and if anything falls short of this goal we always encourage them to visit http://support.nintendo.com so we can help.”
Nintendo did not reply to Kotaku's query over a potential fix for the fault. But the Japanese company recently updated the front page of its customer service website with a link that allows Switch owners to start a ticket to get their Joy-Cons repaired. Before that, there was only a troubleshooting page asking users whether or not their systems were updated and then instructing them to use the console's Joy-Con software calibration feature.
Some players who have sent their devices for repair say the fix is only temporary and issues resurface a few months after they get the controllers back from Nintendo. One gamer, in particular, tweeted that their Joy-Con began drifting again as soon as it was taken out of the box.