Nintendo has finally admitted to connectivity issues with the Switch’s left Joy-Con controller, but it says that a fix is in place to make sure all future units are working properly.
Nintendo says it’s fixed the Switch’s Joy-Con connectivity issues
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is The Verge’s executive editor. He has covered tech, policy, and online creators for over a decade.
“A manufacturing variation has resulted in wireless interference with a small number of the left Joy-Con,” a Nintendo of America spokesperson said in a statement. “Moving forward this will not be an issue, as the manufacturing variation has been addressed and corrected at the factory level.”
“We have determined a simple fix can be made to any affected Joy-Con to improve connectivity.”
The statement comes after CNET’s Sean Hollister published an investigation into the issue, suggesting that Nintendo had implemented a fix in new units. While it’s still not clear what Nintendo has changed, evidently he was right, with Nintendo saying that it’s adjusted something about the manufacturing process to prevent future interference.
The Joy-Con issues seem to have affected some of the console’s launch units, with several reviewers saying that the left controller lost its connection on occasion. That seemed to be happening because of a designed difference between the left and right controller, which gave the right controller a stronger Bluetooth signal to connect to the system.
Though Nintendo has finally acknowledged the issue — previously, its only admission was that you shouldn’t use the Joy-Con around aquariums — it maintains that there was “no design issue” with the controller. Nintendo also indicates that the issue may not have impacted a huge number of units, as it isn’t planning a “widespread proactive repair or replacement effort” for left Joy-Con.
It does, however, have what Nintendo calls a “simple fix” in place to repair any affected left Joy-Con that get sent in. As CNET discovered, that seems to be a small piece of conductive foam. Not very fancy, but it seems to work.
Nintendo says it’ll offer free repairs with about a one-week turnaround time for any left Joy-Con units that are seeing connection issues.
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