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Nintendo faces class-action lawsuit over Joy-Con drifting

Joy-Con "drift" has become such an issue that class action lawsuit has been filed against Nintendo.

Josh Hawkins

July 23, 2019 9:50 AM

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Whether you’ve encountered the issue yourself or not, drifting is a huge issue that’s been plaguing many Nintendo Switch owners. The issue, which is known as “Joy-Con drift” causes the Joy-Con to detect input even when there isn’t any. This feature is called “drift” and it’s been a massive problem for Switch users. In fact, the problem has been big enough that law firm Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith has now filed a class-action lawsuit against Nintendo.

The introduction of the complaint states:

2. Defendant, which manufactured, marketed, and sold the Switch and Joy-Con controllers, is aware of the defect through online consumer complaints, complaints made by consumers to Defendant, and through its own pre-release testing.

3. Yet, notwithstanding its knowledge of its manufacturing defect, Defendant fails to disclose the defect and routinely refuses to repair the joysticks without charge when the defect manifests and never disclosed this material defect to consumers.

4. As a result of Defendant’s unfair, deceptive, and/or fraudulent business practices, owners of Switches, including Plaintiff, have suffered an ascertainable loss of money and/or property and/or value.  As a result of the joystick defect and the monetary costs associated with attempting to repair the game consoles, Plaintiff and the Class have suffered injury in fact, incurred damages, and otherwise have been harmed by Defendant’s conduct.

The lawsuit is being filed on behalf of all Nintendo Switch purchasers and focuses heavily on various consumer protection statutes and warranty law claims. It looks like users’ frustrations with the drift issue, and Nintendo’s lack of any official response to the problem has led some users to take more drastic measures. You can view the full complaint by clicking here, but if you would like to add your name to the suit, then you can head over to the CSK&D website to sign up.

Josh Hawkins

Guides Editor

Joshua holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and has been exploring the world of video games for as long as he can remember. He enjoys everything from large-scale RPGs to small, bite-size indie gems and everything in between.