Nintendo promises unlimited repairs for “drifting” Joy-Cons throughout Europe
Enlarge / How long until these Joy-Cons experience the dreaded "drift"? (credit: Mark Walton + Sebastian's hands)
Nintendo has agreed to offer free lifetime repairs of Nintendo Switch controllers experiencing the dreaded "Joy-Con drift" to consumers across the European Union.
The move comes in response to years of organized complaints and a pressure campaign from the European Consumer Organization (BEUC). In a 2021 report, that organization logged "nearly 25,000 complaints" from European Switch owners regarding Joy-Con drift, which causes a Switch joystick to register phantom inputs even when it is untouched in the "neutral" position. The BEUC's formal complaint cited the Joy-Con hardware for "premature obsolescence" and said that it's "high time for companies to stop putting products onto the market that break too early."
"Nintendo takes great pride in creating high-quality and durable products and is continuously making improvements to them," the company wrote in a note recently posted on its UK support page (as first noticed by Nintendo Life). "Therefore and until further notice, Nintendo offers to consumers who purchased the respective product in the [European Economic Area], UK, and Switzerland that repairs for responsiveness syndrome relating to control sticks will be conducted at no charge by official Nintendo repair centres."