Nintendo provides solution to Joy Con controller issues

Not long after the launch of the Nintendo Switch owners began to report problems with the Joy Con Controllers, particularly the left controller. Now Nintendo has finally provided a solution to those experiencing issues with their controllers.

Nintendo has offered to repair Joy Con controllers that are experiencing the de-sync issue, but have also taken steps to ensure that no one buying a Nintendo Switch from now on will experience this issue. This is a nice change from the attitude Nintendo seems to have taken towards the issue up until this point, which was to somehow ignore it apart from opening a new support page.

The latest statement attributes the Joy Con controller de-sync issue as a manufacturing variation, meaning it won’t be widespread throughout newly manufactured consoles. The variation creates interference in a small number of Joy Con controller units, but now the issue has been fixed at a factory level and won’t occur again moving forward.

A simple fix has been determined by Nintendo however, and owners can call Nintendo for assistance. If the issue cannot be fixed with the procedure in place, then Nintendo is offering to repair the Joy Cons free of charge with a quick return service to ensure minimum disturbance to gaming.

CNET reportedly had a controller repaired, and then compared the old Joy Con to a new one bought from Amazon. The only alteration made to the repaired controller seems to be the addition of a piece of foam that looks like it shields the internal antenna. This shielding may have had something to do with protecting the antenna from interference from other devices, which is why Nintendo began offering advice such as turning off all wireless devices in the room with the Switch.

With the Nintendo Switch doing so well it could have been a massive stumbling block for the Joy Con controller to be fundamentally flawed. Thankfully for Nintendo this is not the situation, and the Switch should continue to sell well and hopefully meet the goal of selling 16 million units over the next financial year.