One of the most criticized aspects of the Nintendo Switch is the Joy-Cons. A lot of players have had issues of drift on their controllers after extended usage. This has lead many to call out Nintendo for releasing what they call an incomplete product. This led to lawsuits against Nintendo. There are still players suffering from drift in their Joy-Cons, with several pointing out that they don’t believe that Nintendo has fixed the issue yet.
However, according to the developers who worked on the Switch there have been improvements made on Joy-Con controllers. In an Ask the Developer feature on the Nintendo website, Ko Shiota and Toru Yamashita from the Technology Development Department were answering questions about the new Nintendo Switch OLED model.
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The topic of the Joy-Cons came up, and Yamashita responded that they have been continuously been improving the analog stick since its launch. Yamashita claims that the analog stick for the Joy-Cons initially passed the same reliability test that the Wii U GamePad’s analog stick passed. They have since investigated the Joy-Cons that have been used by customers and have been improving its resistance and durability. The improvements for the controllers have been internally so there hasn’t been any noticeable difference between the earlier Joy-Cons with the newer ones.
Shiota compares the Joy-Con’s analog stick with that of car tires, as both suffer from wear and tear after continuous usage. It is their goal to improve the durability of the Joy-Con so that it can last longer.
