Nintendo fined by France for millions over broken Switch Joy-Con controllers

Owners of the original Switch all fear one thing: stick drift. Nintendo's detachable controllers became infamous during the last generation for their tendency to break. It was a big enough deal that the Nintendo president at the time apologized for it, and the Japanese company started repairing Joy-Con for free. Years later, Nintendo is finally facing some consequences over its apparent design oversight.

Even as Nintendo moves on to a new console, pressure over the original Joy-Con has been mounting for years now. In 2022, a European consumer group alleged that Nintendo's hardware components suffered noticeable damage after only a few months of use. This damage inevitably caused many Joy-Con to break. The controllers were still usable in such cases, but affected Joy-Con units behaved as if the stick were being pushed constantly in one direction. Joy-Con drift made it difficult to continue playing games, a fact that was particularly frustrating when the controllers were considered expensive.

On Monday, Nintendo was sanctioned for €35 million by France's consumer rights office over the Joy-Con issue (roughtly $46 million with current conversion rates). The Consumer Affairs office levied this fine against Nintendo after it concluded an internal that determined the video game maker "did not fairly inform consumers about the malfunctions affecting certain controllers," Le Monde reports.

The office alleges that Nintendo was aware of the hardware defect, but chose to remain silent about it for years. The company only acknowledged the issue, the office argued, after European advocacy groups raised concerns about alleged planned obsolescence and after a class-action lawsuit was filed. The lack of clarity around the issue, the office says, prevented some fans from seeking free repairs. Instead, players were more likely to "buy more controllers" after experiencing stick drift, the office said.

Nintendo denied allegations of misleading consumers, and framed the $46 million fine as "the amicable resolution of legal proceedings." In 2021, Nintendo asserted that its OLED Switch model improved its Joy-Con, but reports of stick drift persisted nonetheless.

While the number sounds massive, the fine might feel like a slap on the wrist for Nintendo. Last year alone, the Japanese company reportedly made billions in profit following the successful launch of the Switch 2. Though stick drift is an issue that can affect all controllers, its prevalence has diminished with the Switch 2's new, advanced Joy-Con designs.

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