Nintendo must pay a €35 million ($46 million) penalty in France, after being sanctioned by the country’s consumer rights office over the issue of Joy-Con drift.
France’s General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) claimed Nintendo’s initial silence over the issue amounted to misleading commercial practice — as the company itself was well aware that a large number of Switch owners were experiencing defective Joy-Con controls for several years before acknowledging the problems publicly.
Nintendo’s refusal to acknowledge the issue — until it did eventually begin to offer free repairs — led to many customers simply forking out for new Joy-Con instead, it’s alleged, further swelling Nintendo’s profits.
In a statement to French newspaper Le Monde, Nintendo denied “having intentionally misled consumers” and said the €35 million payout did “not constitute an admission of guilt and reflects only the amicable resolution of legal proceedings.”
Joy-Con drift is believed to have impacted around almost half of Switch’s enormous 155 million-strong userbase, leaving millions of older Joy-Con unusable after a certain amount of wear. Users frequently reported finding their wireless controls drifting, or becoming fully unusable.
In 2022, a UK consumer group alleged Nintendo Switch’s Joy-Con drift issue was caused by a fundamental design flaw. A report from Which claimed that, even after just a few months of use, the Joy-Con’s plastic circuit boards show significant wear on the joystick slider contact points, causing Joy-Con drift.
Later Joy-Con models were quietly updated to improve the issue, though Nintendo has refrained from discussing the issue publicly, and has also remained coy about whether it has entirely fixed the problem in Switch 2. So far, there have been no widespread reports that the issue has returned in the company’s newest console — though its hardware remains just a year old.
For more from Nintendo, tune in tomorrow to the company’s latest Nintendo Direct broadcast — where fans expect major announcements for games coming to Switch 2 over the rest of this year.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
