Nintendo acknowledges Joy Con connection issues

Many Nintendo Switch owners have been experiencing issues with the left Joy Con controller connecting to their new console in the first week after launch. Nintendo have acknowledged the issue, and is trying to help owners fix it.

Prior to the console’s launch some reviewers raised the issue in their reviews, stating that at times the left Joy Con controller would cut out. The issue led to deaths in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild as Link would continue to walk in an unwanted direction, off a cliff for example. At other times the button presses from the left Joy Con wouldn’t register, leading to all sorts of issues across all games. While the issue hasn’t been expertly tested and examined yet, it seems to be caused by both distance between the left Joy Con and the console, or objects sitting between the two. It must be noted that while the issue is known, it is not occurring for all Switch owners.

Nintendo hasn’t been vocal about the issue in the press, but they have created a support page on their website where users can try a number of solutions to try to resolve the issue. Among the advice on the page there are suggestions such as decreasing the distance between Joy Con and console, and ensuring the console isn’t near any other wireless devices. This suggests there is a problem with the signal strength or type used between the Joy Con and the console.

The advice on the Nintendo website even goes as far as telling users to turn off all devices, or as many as possible that use wireless signals. For many this will mean a computer or two, a sound system if something like a Sonos system is used throughout the home, and even aquariums if you can believe that they affect the connection.

The advice has been met with a largely negative response from fans, as Nintendo have barely told anyone that they know about the issue. There isn’t any confirmation that the issue is hardware or software related, meaning Nintendo may need to recall all the consoles they’ve sold in order to fix this connection problem. If the issue is software related then it’s likely it could be fixed with a software update.

Related Topics: Joy Con, Nintendo, Nintendo Switch

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