Nintendo president apologizes for Joy-Con drift amid class-action lawsuit in US

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This is the first time a Nintendo executive has officially apologized for the issue

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Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa apologized for the ongoing issues affecting Nintendo Switch Joy-Con controllers, the most notable being those infamous drifting analogue sticks, in a recent financial Q&A. 

"Regarding the Joy-Con, we apologize for any trouble caused to our customers," Furukawa said (translated by Kotaku) "We are continuing to aim to improve our products, but as the Joy-Con is the subject of a class-action lawsuit in the United States and this is still a pending issue, we would like to refrain from responding about any specific actions."

Furukawa never calls out Joy-Con drift by name, but there's little doubt as to what "trouble" he's referring to. Especially since he highlights the class action lawsuit regarding Joy-Con drift which was filed against Nintendo in the US in July 2019, and later expanded to include Nintendo Switch Lite issues. Joy-Con drift is still very much a problem, and this is perhaps the first time a Nintendo executive has officially apologized for it. 

Joy-Con drift is such a ubiquitous problem that Nintendo updated its Switch troubleshooting forum specifically to call it out. There are a few home remedies for how to fix Joy-Con drift, but for many users, recalibrating or resetting a controller merely delays their inevitable RMA. And even after sending their controller in for repairs, drift often returns within weeks or months. Newer generations of Joy-Cons have yet to do away with the drift issue, but it's certainly not too late for Nintendo to finally stamp it out. 

Here are the best Nintendo Switch accessories on the market, including more durable controllers.  

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.