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Nintendo of Europe has agreed to pay a €35 million fine in France after a regulator found that the company misled customers over the well-known drift defect in the Joy-Con controllers for the original Nintendo Switch.
The fine follows an investigation by France’s Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF). According to the regulator, Nintendo knew about technical problems with the Switch’s Joy-Con controllers as early as 2018, including responsiveness issues and drift, but did not properly inform consumers of the problem until 2020.
That, the DGCCRF said, led some Switch owners to buy replacement controllers unnecessarily, which is the claim at the heart of the enforcement action.
A complaint filed in 2020 by French consumer group UFC-Que Choisir, which had already raised the alarm about Joy-Con drift the previous year, argued that the issue could be considered a form of planned obsolescence. That phenomenon, which is when a company intentionally designs a product to have a limited lifespan, is a subject of ongoing legislation in the EU.
The group be argues that Nintendo’s manufacturing changes failed to fix the fault, even though the company had been aware of it for years. In the meantime, Nintendo benefited from increased demand for replacement controllers.
What is Joy-Con Drift?
A “drifting” controller is one that registers input even when not being touched. For example, a player releasing the joystick in sports-themed game might see their player slowly creeping across the field instead of standing still. To non-gamers, that might sound like a minor issue, but it renders some games nearly unplayable, especially those requiring precise maneuvering.
The issue quickly became one of the biggest consumer gripes about the original Nintendo Switch. The console itself was a huge success, and the concept of the detachable Joy-Con controllers was well-received. However, soon after its launch, complaints about faulty sticks began to surface.
Stick drift is not a problem that’s exclusive to Nintendo, but the extent of the problem was. Over time, companies making third-party controllers for the device moved to Hall-Effect sensors. These use magnets and have effectively eradicated the problem.
Nintendo Claims It Did Not Intentionally Mislead Consumers
In a statement reported by Le Monde, Nintendo said it had not “intentionally misled consumers” and that agreeing to the settlement “does not constitute an admission of guilt.” The company said the agreement reflects an amicable resolution of the legal proceedings.
However, the French regulator’s view is still clear. The DGCCRF found that Nintendo failed to communicate transparently enough about known Joy-Con defects, and that a lack of information may have influenced consumer behavior to Nintendo’s benefit.
The regulator stated that the issues included unintended movements, inverted movements, ghost inputs, and controller lock-ups. This was not just about “broken” controllers. It was about whether customers were given enough information to understand the fault, seek support, and avoid spending more money than necessary.
Changes Made in the Wake of the Joy-Con Fiasco
The Joy-Con drift saga has haunted Nintendo for years. It has also faced class-action litigation in the U.S. over the issue, although the case was dismissed in 2024. In the UK, consumer watchdog Which? claimed that more than 40% of original Switch Joy-Con controllers had been affected by drift problems.
As a result of the actions against it, Nintendo has made adjustments to how it handles repairs in Europe. In 2023, following pressure from European consumer groups and the European Commission, Nintendo agreed to repair affected Joy-Con controllers free of charge for customers in the European Economic Area, the UK, and Switzerland, even after the standard warranty period had elapsed.
For Nintendo, the real damage may be more than just the cost of repairs and this one settlement. Reputationally, the issue was awkward for Nintendo at the time and has not entirely gone away over the past decade. The Switch will still be remembered as one of the most successful consoles ever made by any company, far outselling the competition, but the stick drift issue remains the major fault line scarring its success.
