Nintendo Won’t Explicitly Say Whether Joy-Con Drift Will Be Fixed for the OLED Switch

Many Switch owners know the pain of Joy-Con drift, an issue so prevalent and frustrating that it’s resulted in numerous lawsuits against Nintendo including a class-action lawsuit in the US. So when Nintendo announced the upcoming October 8 release of the new OLED Switch model, Switch owners wanted to know: will the Joy-Cons be drift-free?

In a statement provided to The Verge, Wired, Polygon, and GameSpot, Nintendo said that the “Joy-Con controller configuration and functionality did not change with Nintendo Switch (OLED model).” However, this cagey statement doesn’t directly address the outlets’ very specific question, which was whether the new OLED model will fix the issue of Joy-Con drift which has existed for years in the current Switch. According to The Verge, even when they responded to Nintendo and “asked the question again in an even clearer fashion, [they] were referred to the same statement.”

Interestingly, an FAQ that was available on Nintendo’s UK site said, “The Joy-Con controllers included with Nintendo Switch (OLED model) are the same as the controllers currently available” — at the time of writing, that URL now leads to a dead “not found” page and the FAQ is no longer available to view.

While Nintendo acknowledged in its statement that it’s “aware of reports that some Joy-Con controllers have not responded correctly,” it continues to direct consumers affected by the issue to visit its support site. This is the policy they’ve maintained for almost two years since Vice published an internal memo from Nintendo directing customer service reps to fix Joy-Con drift for free. Nintendo’s statement is in full below:

The Joy-Con controller configuration and functionality did not change with Nintendo Switch (OLED model). The configuration and functionally is the same as that of the Joy-Con controllers for the Nintendo Switch console. At Nintendo, we take great pride in creating quality products and we are continuously making improvements to them. We are aware of reports that some Joy-Con controllers have not responded 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.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Did your Joy-Cons eventually end up developing drift? Let us know in the comments.

Source: The Verge