UK watchdog calls on Nintendo to compensate users who bought new Joy-Cons due to drift

videogameschronicle.com:

The UK consumer association Which? has called on Nintendo to fully compensate users who bought replacement Joy-Cons due to stick ‘drift’.

Joy-Con drift was a particular issue in the first few years of the Switch’s life, and led to the analogue stick – particularly that on the left Joy-Con – drifting to the side, causing games to register an input  and move the player’s character even when they aren’t moving the stick.

While Nintendo insists it’s constantly improving the controllers to the extent that the problem is far less frequent in new Joy-Cons, there are still many older controllers in active use which can theoretically develop Joy-Con drift at any moment.

Which? carried out a lab test to pinpoint the issue – a combination of dust and worn away contact points – though this has been known for a while due to similar investigations.

Following its test, however, Which? has now called on Nintendo to commit to four key agreements. It has asked Nintendo to:

“Nintendo must get a grip on the problem and provide free repairs, compensation, refunds or replacements to any consumers who have been impacted by this issue since the launch of the console,” said Which? director of policy and advocacy Rocio Concha.

This isn’t the first time Which? has urged Nintendo to get to the bottom of the Joy-Con drift situation. In June the group called on Nintendo to open an internal investigation into the issue, after conducting a survey of 919 Switch owners and finding that 40% of them experienced Joy-Con drift.

Joy-Con drift has been a recurring issue for Switch owners since the console launched in 2017, but it was brought to wider public attention with the filing of a US class action lawsuit in July 2019.

Shortly after it was filed, Nintendo