Joy Con
Image: Nintendo Life

The drift issues associated with Nintendo's Joy-Con controllers are still obviously a problem for many Switch users, so does the company have any hardware redesigns planned to combat this? In a recent interview with Polygon, Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser was asked this exact question.

In response, Doug explained how Nintendo was "always" closely inspecting what was being sent in and for what reasons in order to get a better understanding of what's going on with its hardware - so it can then make the necessary improvements going forward. Below is his full reply:

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Polygon: I wanted to talk a little bit about — I know it’s kind of a four-letter word — but Joy-Con drift. Obviously, Nintendo has a long reputation of really strong hardware, but this is something that has not gone away. I know you offer free repairs for people; they can mail in their Joy-Cons. It kind of feels like this continues to be, like, a Band-Aid that’s being put over it. And I wanted to know, long term, are there hardware designs planned to address this so that when people buy a new Switch, they’re not necessarily worrying, “Hey, I’m going to need to send in my Joy-Con every six months or so”?

Doug Bowser: First and foremost, we want every consumer to have a great experience with their Nintendo Switch and with the games they play on Nintendo Switch. That’s of utmost importance to us. Our mission is to put smiles on faces. And we want to make sure that happens. If consumers have any issue with our hardware and/or software, we want them to contact us, when we will work through the proper solution to get them up and running as fast as possible.

Specific to the Joy-Cons themselves, we’ve been working very closely with consumers if and when they might have issues, whether it’s a replacement or repair. And then, what I will say, as we look at our repair cycles, we’re always looking at what is being sent in and for what reasons, and understanding that better. And without going into any details, it always gives us an opportunity to make improvements as we go forward.

Although Nintendo has not come up with a long-term solution to the drift issue just yet, it has made some other adjustments here and there - such as permanently reducing the price of Joy-Con in October. It has also been dragged into a string of legal battles this year, as a result of faulty controllers.

Have you experienced Joy-Con drift yourself? How would you like to see Nintendo tackle this issue moving forward? Leave your thoughts down below.

[source polygon.com]