Nintendo president apologizes for Joy-Con drift

erek

erek

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Dec 19, 2005
Messages
10,875
Opinion?

"The class-action lawsuit was filed against Nintendo of America in July 2019, citing claims of Joy-Con controllers malfunctioning. Nintendo began issuing free repairs for controllers afflicted with Joy-Con drift shortly after the lawsuit was filed.

In September, Nintendo released the Switch Lite, a smaller, handheld-only version of the original console. Notably, the Joy-Cons are built into the system — they can’t be replaced or unattached. Just over a week after the Switch Lite was released, the new console was added to the class-action lawsuit."

https://www.polygon.com/2020/6/30/21308085/joy-con-drift-apology-nintendo-president
 
Opinion: It probably would have been far cheaper to just repair/replace defective joycons than let it get to lawsuit, no?
 
Jelly said:
Opinion: It probably would have been far cheaper to just repair/replace defective joycons than let it get to lawsuit, no?
Click to expand...
They were replacing them. Still doesn't stop the lawyers from getting their millions while people that were effect and even got theirs fixed get $5. Still I think people who got replacements still ended with the same issue. Idk if it actually is fixed now.
 
I bought my switch lite close to launch, never really used it.. I guess I get to look forward to some drifting and a $10 check 10 years from now.
 
My sons joycon does this and its the most fucking annoying thing ever. Almost like it was intentional so that we would have to go and buy another one.
 
I have owned 2 sets of joycons now. The ones that came with the system had horrible drift after a while. Bought a new pair and now the same damn thing. Nintendo needs to pony up and give me a free set.
 
Makes me glad I use my Pro controller for everything. I even lug it around when traveling. No drift on that one ;)
 
a poor batch of gyroscopes can make drift basically impossible to filter out at the sensitivity levels controllers need. Anyone who has played with arduino's or flight controllers with 3/6/9 DoF would get that it's not a simple task to get right across tons of even identical parts without manual custom calibrations per part.

i have 4 joycons and 2 pro controllers and other controllers and none seem to suffer from drift and I've had them since the switch was launched.

I know people who have drift though.
 
Didnt one of the Switch hackers that Nintendo either shut down or is trying to shut down fix the drift issue themselves in a hacked firmware update? Kinda sad that someone can do a fix like that but Nintendo cant
 
EniGmA1987 said:
Didnt one of the Switch hackers that Nintendo either shut down or is trying to shut down fix the drift issue themselves in a hacked firmware update? Kinda sad that someone can do a fix like that but Nintendo cant
Click to expand...
How do you fix a failing hardware issue with software?
 
tangoseal said:
My sons joycon does this and its the most fucking annoying thing ever. Almost like it was intentional so that we would have to go and buy another one.
Click to expand...
I don't think it was intentional, it was just an engineering fail like a lot of things. They wanted the Joycons to be compact and skinny, so they couldn't use a traditional pot setup. Unfortunately the graphite solution they licensed is not very durable. Which wouldn't be as bad if a pair didn't cost $80 USD. If they were half the price I think just going out and buying replacements wouldn't be as big a deal.
 
Armenius said:
I don't think it was intentional, it was just an engineering fail like a lot of things. They wanted the Joycons to be compact and skinny, so they couldn't use a traditional pot setup. Unfortunately the graphite solution they licensed is not very durable. Which wouldn't be as bad if a pair didn't cost $80 USD. If they were half the price I think just going out and buying replacements wouldn't be as big a deal.
Click to expand...

Is there an active claim site I can go and use to get these replaced under this class action result?
 
Armenius said:
I don't think it was intentional, it was just an engineering fail like a lot of things. They wanted the Joycons to be compact and skinny, so they couldn't use a traditional pot setup. Unfortunately the graphite solution they licensed is not very durable. Which wouldn't be as bad if a pair didn't cost $80 USD. If they were half the price I think just going out and buying replacements wouldn't be as big a deal.
Click to expand...
The playstation vita and the 3DS don't seem to have any issues with drift, pretty sure the vita uses pot sticks, but not sure about the 3DS. Both are about ½-¾" thick where the control device is mounted on the system...
 
3 of my 4 joycons have drifted badly. I ordered a repair kit for like 15 bucks and fixed em.
 
Nobu said:
The playstation vita and the 3DS don't seem to have any issues with drift, pretty sure the vita uses pot sticks, but not sure about the 3DS. Both are about ½-¾" thick where the control device is mounted on the system...
Click to expand...
3DS uses a similar slider system to measure resistance, but it uses a more robust PCB. The metal contacts on the sliders are also different.

3DS Circle Pad:
1593701943912.png


Switch Joy-Con:
1593702167813.png


You can clearly see the graphite pads for measuring resistance are worn down in this shot. Nintendo's claim that it is cause by dust or dirt is BS.
1593702298383.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nobu
like this
Those pads wearing out would cause non-response, not drift right?
 
Verge said:
Those pads wearing out would cause non-response, not drift right?
Click to expand...
Depends, but partial degredation would cause erratic behavior – jumping from 0 to 20 or -20, for example, or possibly never dropping to 0 if it's severe.
 
We have had our console for about 6 months and with COVID its got a ton of play time on it. We just started getting drift in our neon set. The black/grey set still seems fine. Good to see there is a fix because I was just going to order one and do it myself.
 
It wouldn't be so bad if those cheap-ass feeling Joycons didn't cost friggin $80 to replace. You would hope some of that additional Nintendo-tax would go towards better build quality and QA testing, that's made worse by their lack of real response (i.e. actually fixing the design flaw in manufacturing) to this wide-spread issue. It's ridiculous that these things cost $80 and feel cheaper and break easier than any PS4 or Xbone controller than you can routinely buy new for $45 or so.

Fortunately neither of my Joycon sets have shown any drift so far, but I usually use my Pro controller too and my Joycons don't get much use outside of family Mario Party and Overcooked 2 sessions.
 
Things I've read said the drifting is caused by dust getting under the joystick. It is fixable, just hard to clean, like the Mac keyboard issue.
 
Last edited:
I don't think I have this issue. Never noticed a issue using my Switch and i've had mine for quite a long time now. Although it's true I don't use it too much.
 
vegeta535 said:
How do you fix a failing hardware issue with software?
Click to expand...
Change the size of the zero spot. There is a range in the x/y axis coded as a dead zone, so just placing your thumbs on the stick doesn't register as movement. If you make that larger, it will reduce either max x/y values or precision (by forcing full x/y gamut over a smaller movement space), but it'll fix the drift.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top