It feels like it has been a while since Joy-Con drift, and the continued calls for Nintendo to do something about it, has made headlines. 🗹UK Watchdog Which has changed that this week, not only calling on Nintendo to replace all Joy-Con suffering from drift free of charge, but to refund everyone who has paid to have their drifting con🧸trollers repaired or replaced.
Highlighted by , further attempts by Which to try and get Nintendo to actually do something about Joy-Con drift follow more tests on what causes the issues and a list of what are effectively demands. Which's testing has determined dust and the wearing away of contact points are to blame for drift. Something that had previously been determined, but now Which is upping the ante in its attempts to get Nintendo to do something about it.
Top of the list of things Which is requesting of Nintendo is an internal investigation into the causes of Joy-Con drift, the results of which will be made public. It's hard to imagine Nintendo hasn't performed internal tests already, but naturally, whatever its findings were have been kept under wraps. It took three years for Nintendo to acknowledge drift was even a probꦐlem, and even then it couldn't say much due to pending lawsuits hanging over the issue.
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Moving on through Which's requested agreements, it also asks Nintendo to instate a “no quibble” repair or replacement policy for anyone who has encountered Joy-Con drift since the Switch launched. That includes refunds for Switch owners who have had to buy ꦺnew Joy-Con, or paid to have their controllers repaired, and can prov๊e the money was spent due to drift.
The final point from Which is that Nintendo makes all of the above very clear so as many Switch owners as possible know about it. The watchdog certainly isn't the only organization trying to get Nintendo to do more to combat Joy-Con drift. In 2021, BEUC filed an official complaint claiming 💦Joy-Con suffered from premature obsolescence. While Nintendo will fix drifting Joy-Con for free, there's still a belief that little has been done to prevent the problem happening moving forward.