The Nintendo Switch has become a much-loved console for many fans around the world but has unfortunately been plagued by a persistent problem since launch. Reports of Joy-Con drift have been a thorn in Nintendo's side ever since the Switch first released back in 2017.

Nintendo recently released a refresh for the Switch called the Nintendo Switch OLED which is claimed to have somewhat improved this issue. Nintendo and prospective Switch OLED buyers can only hope, as the company is facing a class-action lawsuit over the Joy-Con drift issue.

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In a developer interview which was timed alongside the launch of the Nintendo Switch OLED, Nintendo once again addressed the issue and said that improvements have been but claim that wear and tear is unavoidable. "Joy-Con controllers have lots of different features, so we've been continuing to make improvements that may not always be visible," said Toru Yamashita, deputy general manager of Nintendo's technology development department. In the interview Yamashita, however, made no specific mention of stick drift or other issues but got close to it when he stated that the original Joy-Con for the first Switch model still passed Nintendo's quality control. The fact that the issue has not been outright solved is rather worrisome though considering that Nintendo's stock continues to drop and the company may need the OLED model to sell well to counteract this.

Nintendo Switch Cloud Gaming

"The analog stick at first release cleared the Nintendo reliability test using the method of rotating the stick while continually applying a load to it, with the same criteria as the Wii U GamePad's analog stick," Yamashita added. "As we have always been trying to improve it as well, we have investigated the Joy-Con controllers used by the customers and repeatedly improved the wear resistance and durability." The fact that Nintendo mentioned that the Switch OLED will still use the same Joy-Cons that have caused drift issues in the past months before launch has left many wondering what led them to this decision.

Nintendo's general manager of the company's technology division stated that unfortunately some wear is unavoidable and compared the movement seen in Joy-Con controllers to the kind that wears down car tires. "Car tires wear out as the car moves, as they are in constant friction with the ground to rotate," Shiota said. "So with that same premise, we asked ourselves how we can improve durability, and not only that but how can both operability and durability coexist? It's something we are continuously tackling."

With the recent launch of the Switch OLED, Nintendo can only hope that these issues don't persist greatly, as the Switch has always been behind other consoles in performance. The company can only hope that they don't fall behind in the durability of their hardware as well.

The Nintendo Switch OLED Model is available now.

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Source: Eurogamer