The Nintendo Switch 2 is already a huge success. Nintendo is selling more units than it can manufacture, and it’s likely the high demand will hold for quite a while. The original Switch (and the upgraded versions) sold incredibly well, so Nintendo has a massive user base ready to upgrade to a more powerful version that can handle much more complex games.
Still, it’s not all good news. Now that the Switch 2 is in the hands of millions of users, some gamers have discovered that Nintendo hasn’t really fixed one of the worst things about the first model. The new Joy-Con controllers can experience the infamous drift, and at least one user encountered the problem just days after buying the Switch 2.
The same “fix” applies. You have to send your Joy-Cons to Nintendo, and the company will repair them for free. But that doesn’t guarantee your next controller won’t experience drifting.
A Reddit user posted the following clip, showing how one of the controllers is exhibiting the infamous Joy-Con drift problem.
He confirmed that he contacted Nintendo, and he’ll have to ship the controller to the company to repair or replace it:
I got my Switch 2 from Walmart on Thursday but was unable to use it until Friday. The left Joy-Con felt a little cattywampus, but I still was able to play Mario Kart World. Today, Saturday 6/7, the stick felt worse when pushing right. I guess I already had stick drift or something. Tried to recalibrate it in the Switch Settings, and it showed the joystick all messed up. Called Nintendo and now have to send it in for repair. My luck in a nutshell, lol.
The Switch 2 Joy-Con drift issue isn’t exactly surprising. Nintendo said a few months ago that it didn’t use the “Hall Effect” stick design in the new controllers. That would have been one way to prevent drift. The Hall Effect design uses magnets, which might have interfered with the Joy-Con’s built-in magnets. These controllers attach and detach to the console using strong magnets, a feature that wasn’t in the first-gen models.
In early June, Nintendo confirmed it’ll replace Joy-Con 2 controllers that develop drift for free.
Separately, iFixit released its Nintendo Switch 2 teardown, starting with the Joy-Con controllers. The well-known repair site suggested that Joy-Con 2 units might still be prone to drifting since Nintendo didn’t adopt a new design to prevent it.
Besides Hall Effect controllers, Nintendo could have used Tunneling Magnetoresistance (TMR) sensors. That’s not the case either. iFixit pointed out the magnet issue but said TMR sensors could have worked instead:
But that shouldn’t stop them from going with TMR, which is less susceptible to magnetic interference. Whatever tech they use, however, joysticks are a high-wear component. They can still break in a drop, even if they never suffer from drift. Being able to replace these things is a high priority for game console repairability.
As you’ll see in the following clip, repairing the Switch 2 isn’t easy. iFixit gave the console a 3/10 score.
If you experience Switch 2 Joy-Con drift, your best option is to contact Nintendo and arrange a repair or replacement. One way to lower the risk of drifting is to keep the controllers as clean as possible, though that’s easier said than done. Another option is using a different controller while the console is docked.
