Nintendo Switch owners in the UK can get their Joy-Con controllers repaired for free. The developer confirmed the change on its support page for the region, which also includes Switzerland and the EEA (European Economic Area), which itself houses Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.
Free repairs have been made offered in other countries, but this is the first time they’ve been available in the UK. The region previously called on Nintendo to offer free repairs and be transparent with customers about the controllers’ “limited lifespan.”
Importantly, this offer will continue for the foreseeable further, and also extends to Switch owners whose two-year manufacturer’s warranty have expired. However, Nintendo pointed out that it won’t repair the Joy-Cons for free if the drift was brought on by third-party accessories or accidental damage. It’ll also charge customers if the controllers were modded outside of Nintendo authority in any capacity.
Fix your Joy-Cons, then play Nintendo’s 2023 games unimpeded
Joy-Con drift has been a known issue for Nintendo’s handheld console for years, in both the original 2017 Switch and the more recent OLED model, and even has its own sub-industry as third-party companies have made their own controller designs that have managed to avoid drifting.
In 2019, Nintendo was hit with a class action lawsuit from the US, who accused the developer of selling the Switch while knowing of the Joy-Con’s issues. The following year, that suit went into arbitration.
And in 2021, the European Consumer Organization called on the European Commission to investigate the issue after receiving 25,000 complaints about controller drift from customers.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom set to arrive next month, and production for Switch consoles has reportedly beefed up to meet demand for the game. So it’s not too surprising to hear that Nintendo wants customers to get their Joy-Cons fixed before the release of one of its biggest games for 2023.