A potential joystick displacement class action lawsuit faced by Nintendo Switch owners was dismissed, with a federal judge ruling that Nintendo’s End User License Agreement (EULA) for the console prohibited such lawsuits.
In a filing late November but apparently only recently seen by the gaming media, William Alsup, U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of California, ruled (PDF) that the two plaintiffs, both minors, could not sue Nintendo due to its creation, Switch requires agreement to a license agreement that includes arbitration and forum selection clauses. The minors and their mothers were the original plaintiffs, but after the arbitrator ruledthat mothers cannot sue because their children accepted the EULA, they attempted to re-sue with their children as plaintiffs. Since Nintendo’s licensing agreement requires a person to be at least 18 years old to sign it, the mothers argued, children could not agree to it and should be able to continue their business.
But Alsup ruled that the parents who bought the console were the true owners and that they did not transfer ownership to the children. Having already referred the parents to arbitration, the judge denied the plaintiffs’ motion to amend their complaint and dismissed the case.
The juvenile case is one of many filed against Nintendo over drifting Joy-Cons that have been complained about since the console’s debut in 2017. Nintendo began quietly addressing the issue in mid-2019, offering free repairs and compensation for previous repairs. Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa apologized for drifting during a financial Q&A in mid-2020, specifically “for any issues caused to our customers.”Furukawa added that he could not respond “about any specific action”because of another class action lawsuit that is still pending in federal court in Washington State.
The most likely candidate for drifting Joy-Con joysticks is their inherent design: they are not built to last. Joy-Cons register movement when a small wiper inside the joystick module (potentiometer) moves across a small area, changing resistance levels and changing the recorded voltage. Over time, the pad wears in places, causing incorrect voltage readings and causing Link, Mario, or Harrier Dubois to wander in the wrong directions. You can delve deeper into this with the Spawn Wave walkthrough video (or the post I previously wrote for iFixit).
Meanwhile, the drift continues. A 2022 survey by a UK consumer group found that roughly 40 percent of Switch owners in the UK have experienced drifting. Four out of five owners who contacted Nintendo received free repairs, but half of all owners simply bought new Joy-Cons instead. The consumer group also had an independent lab confirm that wear on the joystick slider pad was the cause of the drift, although dust ingress through the Joy-Con could be one factor. Nintendo reacted to What’s findings by stating that the percentage of drifting joysticks is “low”and that the company has been “constantly improving”since the launch of the Switch.
Disclosure: The author previously worked for iFixit. He has no financial interest in the company.