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Nintendo of Europe agrees to pay €35m fine for Joy-Con drift defects | GamesIndustry.biz
(www.gamesindustry.biz)
Wow. How many cents will we get each?
this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2026
125 points (99.2% liked)
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40ish million sold, so... 85¢ sound good?
Such value! Given that the joycons are like €85 for a pair, I’m getting so much back!
Imagine if fines actually scaled in a sensible manner. 🙃
Who gets the money tho :)
The amount of money I had to spend buying/repairing joycons put me off playing the Switch at all. Wasn't worth it.
I had 2 pairs that they repaired for free. One of them twice. At that point it would have probably been cheaper to redesign them, but idk.
Not sure why you paid a lot to get them repaired, it was very easy to get the free repairs (at least in Europe).
And they've doubled down on their mistake with the Switch 2. Should eventually see another bigger fine, hopefully. €35 million is cheap for Nintendo.
they've doubled down on their mistake
How so? Is JoyCon drift still a thing on the Switch 2?
They still use potentiometer sticks, which degrade over time due to physical contact between all the bits vs hall effect and TMR which uses fancier magnets that require less physical content.
The big 3 console brands all don't use HE or TMR, since potentiometer sticks are cheaper and they see the constant replacement of controllers (or their parts) by consumers as beneficial to their profits, making the shareholders and big business officials happy.
But then you have third-party brands like GuliKit, GameSir, and 8BitDo, who use HE or TMR to help differentiate from the big first-party players and to stand out from the crowd.
From my experience with an in-store Switch 2, the joysticks seem to be slightly bigger and are quite a bit smoother. That might mean that it will last slightly longer than the smaller Switch 1 sticks (bigger things are usually more reliable when it comes to these kinds of tiny parts), but it's still potentiometer sticks, so it will experience stick drift over time to a similar degree.
Read on launch that somebody asked Nintendo and they confirmed the sticks use the same flawed tech as the the original Switch.
Mine is definitely going that way.
If they didn't go with hall effect sensors, the answer is yes
Not widely yet, AFAIK. But they didn't use Hall Effect or TMR Sticks wich would have been immune to it so its just a matter of time until they wear out (might last longer, but won't last a long time).
Now do ps5 ones. I've bought three in three years and all the have developed drift. Not once, in thousands of hours of gaming on previous don't systems, did that ever happen. I refuse to buy them again.
man_wiping_tears_with_cash.gif
Depends. If it's just a fine, yes. If it's what the Dutch call a "dwangsom" they will have increasingly higher fines until they fix it.
Joystick controller technology HAS NEVER BEEN PERFECTED. Every handheld controller type I've ever had ends up having that one controller that drifts. N64, PS4, Oculus Quest, Windows, they all have a controller that drifts.
For your information, it looks like you have only / mostly used first-party controllers. The big brands like Nintendo, Sony, Xbox/Microsoft, etc. use potentiometer sticks over hall effect or TMR in order to save a little bit of cost, and for planned obsolescence too, so new controllers and/or repair ports need to be bought more frequently.
There are a lot of really good third-party controllers that are cheaper with additional features, cross-platform connectivity, and longer lasting designs with HE/TMR sticks + triggers. You might have heard of 8BitDo, GameSir, GuliKit, etc. being mentioned.
I have the Ultimate 2 by 8BitDo, the Supernova by GameSir, and the KK3 Max by Gulikit. The 8BitDo one has a very clean design with a charging dock too, but is the cheapest feeling of the three. The Supernova also has a charging dock, bit it leans heavier into the "gamer look" with more RGB, and it has rubber grips. The GuliKit has the best build quality out of the three hardware wise, has the nicest buttons and triggers in my opinion, and has a textured plastic (not rubber) grip. However, the wireless connectivity is spotty at best, and the connection is very poor at longer distances. I'm fine with that as I sit close to my laptop when playing my games, but it's not good for a console-style setup.
All three have membrane buttons + d-pad, which is what me and my siblings prefer, since those are most similar to the kind in the first-party PlayStation controllers. They all support Linux, Android, iOS, macOS, Switch, etc. (and Windows too if you like spyware and bloat)
If you prefer mechanical/clicky buttons (longer lasting, but they feel different and are loud), the GameSir Cyclone is a really good option, but leans hard on the "gamer look". You also have other brands who make mechanical button controllers, there's a lot of them! If you want something with symmetrical sticks, I heard that the 8BitDo Pro 3 and the GameSir Tarantula Pro are very good. GuliKit's ES Pro line is new and looks similar to the KK series, but it lacks wireless connectivity via the dongle (you won't be missing much, the connection is terrible) and is a little cheaper too, but I haven't tried that one yet.
If you need something cheap and don't need things like gyro support or advanced rumble, the 8BitDo Ultimate 2C and the GameSir Nova 2 Lite are both very good for the price. You might also like the GameSir Tegenaria Lite, which is a wired-only controller that has a symmetrical stick layout, and it is the most affordable one out of the lot that still uses HE sticks and isn't a random no-name brand.
Also, what on Earth is a "Windows controller"? As far as I can tell, Microsoft has never produced a gaming controller branded as being for Windows (or Surface), they only have controllers under the Xbox brand.
Hall effect sticks don't have that problem, and they're not new. Dreamcast controllers had one.
And nowadays third parties can make them even in the tiny joycon form factor.
TMR sticks are great, too. No drift after almost a year. And I don't expect there to be for the lifetime of the product.
Nvr had any drift with my hall effect controllers, I didn't even know what it was until my friend showed it to me
I've been using my steam deck since launch very regularly and so far no drift.