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Nintendo will reportedly refund or replace defective Joy-Cons

The company has yet to officially comment, but it may be working on an easy way to replace Joy-Cons affected by the Joy-Con Drift issue.

Brittany Vincent

July 24, 2019 9:45 AM

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The frustrating "Joy-Con Drift" technical defect is something that a large number of Nintendo Switch owners are experiencing, and it may well be happening to you, too.

If you're continually seeing your Joy-Con controllers pushing you in a direction you didn't move in, you might very well be having the problem that's prompted a large number of affected buyers to consider filing a class-action lawsuit to Nintendo in an effort to resolve. Things have slowly been escalating over the past week with additional problems rearing their head in the Joy-Con department, but it looks like Nintendo may be offering a solution.

Though the company may not have officially announced a fix or acknowledgement of the widespread issue, it looks like Nintendo is working to repair and refund controllers for free for anyone affected by the problem. According to an internal memo obtained by Vice, Nintendo customer service agents are being advised to replace Joy-Con controllers, repair them, and even refund users for the trouble of having the repaired in the first place, all without offering proof of purchase or a warranty that hasn't expired yet.

Nintendo has yet to make an official announcement on the issue, but it looks like if this memo is correct, and corroborated by individuals who took advantage of it, the company might simply be wishing to find a solution instead of admitting to some sort of defect or fault. It remains to be seen if these problems will carry over to the impending Nintendo Switch Lite, or whether those Joy-Con controllers will be affected at all since you can't remove them – that'll be a story for when we can get our hands on one.

We've reached out to Nintendo and will update this story should we receive a response. 

Brittany Vincent

Senior Editor

Fueled by horror, rainbow-sugar-pixel-rushes, and video games, Brittany is a Senior Editor at Shacknews who thrives on surrealism and ultraviolence. Follow her on Twitter @MolotovCupcake and check out her portfolio for more. Like a fabulous shooter once said, get psyched!