So Nintendo has finally formally weighed in on the drifting issue affecting Nintendo Switch Joy-Cons, and there’s some good news. The company has acknowledged the ongoing issues with the controllers, namely the drifting issue, and is offering comprehensive repair services. And the best part is that they’re completely free.
VICE has obtained an internal memo revealing the plan to instruct Nintendo CS teams to begin fixing the broken controllers for free. The company will also be offering refunds to those who paid for previous repairs for this particular issue. And no, you don’t even need a valid warranty to get the free repair. For now, Nintendo itself hasn’t officially announced to the public that this free repair program exists, but this is all certainly great news for Switch owners.
“Customers will no longer be requested to provide proof of purchase for Joy-Con repairs,” the statement reads “Additionally it is not necessary to confirm warranty status. If a customer requests a refund for a previously paid Joy-Con repair […] confirm the prior repair and then issue a refund.”
It’s very clear why this is being done though, as the recently filed class-action lawsuit illustrates, Nintendo is under a lot more pressure over this issue. What this plan indicates is that Nintendo estimates the cost repairs is less than that of a full lawsuit settlement. It’s very likely that the company will try to delay or impede such a settlement for some time.
And with the newly announced revision to the Switch console, Nintendo has likely subjected these units to additional
So far, this is the only statement made about this whole thing by Nintendo:
“At Nintendo, we take great pride in creating quality products and we are continuously making improvements to them. 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.”
It’s unclear when or if these free services will kick off, but we will be sure to let you know.
