Several Nintendo Switch owners are reporting that they are encountering Joy-Con drift issues. Understandably, they’re upset that their controllers that cost around $80/pair aren’t behaving correctly, and some users have said that they’ve had this issue with newly-purchased Joy-Cons. What is this issue and how can it be fixed?
Simply put, Joy-Con drift is an issue with the analog stick on your Joy-Con. You’ll have your hands off of the stick entirely, but you’ll find that the game is detecting movement in a particular direction with absolutely no input from the user. It can’t be said for sure whether it’s a hardware or software issue, but it sure is an annoying problem for people to have to deal with. So, how do you fix it?
How to fix Joy-Con drift | How to fix the problem
Firstly, Nintendo recommends that you follow several steps to ensure that your Joy-Con is correctly connected to your Nintendo Switch:
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- Make sure the Joy-Cons register correctly on the Home Menu > CONTROLLER screen.
- Check to see if you have the latest system update for the Nintendo Switch.
- Make sure the latest firmware for your controllers is installed.
- Remove any skins or covers on the Joy-Con(s) having a problem to see if this is causing the issue.
- If the issue only happens in a particular game or app, make sure that that game or app has the latest software updates.
If these don’t work, the next step is a somewhat more frustrating one: the only solution that Nintendo provides for Joy-Con drift after these steps is to create a Help Desk ticket to get your Joy-Con repaired. The upside is you won’t have to send in your entire system; they’ll only need the affected controller(s). The downside is that you’ll be without that controller(s) for a while so Nintendo can effect repairs on the problematic little device.
Even in this case, sending your defective Joy-Cons in for repair might not be the magic bullet — this Reddit submission on /r/NintendoSwitch has numerous people complaining that the issue crops up again after their Joy-Cons were repaired. It seems that there isn’t really any permanent, guaranteed solution for Joy-Con drift other than a dash of good luck for now.
