Joy-Con drift, a condition in which players see erroneous inputs while they aren’t even pressing the joysticks on the controllers, has been one of the Nintendo Switch’s recurring faults.
Nintendo has been silent on the issue for years, and the firm has failed to clarify whether the new OLED-equipped Nintendo Switch OLED has resolved the problem. However, the firm has broken its silence in a significant manner today, implying that Joy-Con drift may never be entirely resolved.
In a recent Q&A on the Nintendo Switch OLED’s development, the firm says that it has been steadily improving the Joy-Cons in order to make them more dependable. The joysticks that came with the Switch Lite in 2019 aren’t the same as the ones that arrived with the original Switch in 2017, and they’re still being improved.
However, according to Ko Shiota, a Nintendo official who is also the GM of Nintendo’s Technology Development Division, the Joy-Con will always wear down over time.
The joysticks that come with the OLED model, as well as those that come with the original Nintendo Switch, Switch Lite, Joy-Con controllers, and Pro Controllers, are “the newest version with all the enhancements,” according to the firm.
“We’ve been improving the analog-stick portions since launch, and we’re constantly working on it,” says Toru Yamashita, deputy general manager. Yamashita claims that when you have your Joy-Cons fixed, they’ll utilize the most recent versions of those sticks as well.
The OLED Switch will be available on Friday, and we’ll have to see if these changes make the Joy-Cons more resistant to drift over time. Nintendo, on the other hand, appears to never hope to completely eliminate Joy-Con drift.
The entire interview is lengthy, but it’s well worth reading because it’s a rare chance to hear directly from Nintendo on how it designs hardware.
