According to VICE News, Nintendo of America will begin repairing JoyCons affected by drifting ‘free of charge’ and ‘without proof of purchase or warranty’. Previous fix costs are also to be refunded to customers ‘at their request’.
VICE’s report is based on a supposed internal memo, leaked to them by a ‘trusted source’. The memo states that “Customers will no longer be requested to provide proof of purchase for Joy-Con repairs,” and that “It is not necessary to confirm warranty status. If a customer requests a refund for a previously paid Joy-Con repair […] confirm the prior repair and then issue a refund.”
Hours after VICE’s report, the company released the following statement to games media, acknowledging an issue with JoyCons:
“At Nintendo, we take great pride in creating quality products and we are continuously making improvements to them. We are aware of recent reports that some Joy-Con controllers are not responding correctly. We want our consumers to have fun with Nintendo Switch, and if anything falls short of this goal we always encourage them to visit http://support.nintendo.com so we can help.”
Whilst this does not confirm anything of the memo, VICE soon after tasked it’s producer – and drift sufferer – Ricardo “Cado” Contreras to contact support. He was initially requested to try to reset the calibration of the units, but when the drift returned shortly after doing so, the operator offered him a shipping label outright – meaning Nintendo would take care of the shipping and repair fees of the affected JoyCons.
So whilst nothing is confirmed – especially for international locations – this may very well be a case similar to Nintendo’s Mario Party glove: an unadvertised solution to what is a serious issue affecting the Switch’s controllers. We would recommend readers affected by JoyCon drifting to reach out to the Nintendo of their region, and see what they’re willing to do to help you out.
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