Even though the Switch is substantially less powerful when compared to its contemporaries like the PS4 and Xbox One, even more so when put up against the Xbox Series S/X and PS5, people continue to buy the Switch in droves. Part of the reason for this lies in Nintendo’s wealth of first-party exclusives. However, the Switch isn’t perfect and has its fair share of issues. The most glaring of which lies in the Joy-Con controllers. Admittedly, Sony and Microsoft are facing similar controller issues. The only difference is that the drift problems with the Joy-Con are more notorious. What’s even worse is that there is no fix for it just yet. The problem, which is characterized by malfunctioning analog sticks, essentially spells the end for every affected pair of Joy-Con controllers. Four years on since the Switch was first released, it appears that Nintendo has finally found a fix.
Does this spell the end for the Joy-Con’s drift issues?
Although Nintendo hasn’t outright confirmed that it has solved the drift issues with the Joy-Con, one of its newer products might have solved the problem already. A new pair of limited-edition Joy-Con controllers were released as part of the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD and users are pointing out a small but impactful difference in this controller compared to the older models. In particular, one Twitter user notes that the new controller has strips of material not seen in older Joy-Con models. The said strips are strategically placed in areas that need constant pressure application, which would solve the problems with the Joy-Con controller and its analog sticks drifting for some reason.
— Chicken Noodle Gamer (@Mario_RPG_Fan) July 26, 2021 As we’ve already mentioned, this isn’t confirmed by Nintendo yet, and might have just been a design choice that is completely unrelated to the drift issues of the Joy-Con. On the off chance that it is an unannounced change and improvement, the tweaks to the new model are not a permanent fix just yet. We’ll have to wait for at least a couple of months to see how well the new model performs and if it won’t suffer from Joy-Con drift. Until then, all we can do is to wait and speculate. This is what some fans are doing, saying that Nintendo is just testing out the new design with the limited-edition Joy-Con model to see if it makes sense to roll it out for future Joy-Cons. Speaking of waiting, the Nintendo Switch OLED is expected to release in October 2021.
