French consumer org accuses Nintendo of ‘planned obsolescence’ over Joy Con drift

Joy Con drift has been an on-going problem for Nintendo Switch owners ever since the console first launched. Numerous lawsuits have been launched over the subject and this week, another big one is added to that pile, with a French consumer organisation accusing Nintendo of ‘planned obsolescence'. 

For those who don't know, planned obsolescence is something that many tech manufacturers have been accused of over the years. The idea being that something is designed to fail eventually to force you to spend more money on a newer model. According to UFC-Que Choisir, the way that the Joy Cons have been designed are indicative of planned obsolescence.

The organisation claims to have identified two key flaws with Joy Cons, one being early wear and tear of the electronic circuits and the other being an airtightness defect that enables fragments of dust to accumulate inside the controller.

“The nature of the failure, how frequently it occurs for players, the limited lifespan of the products and the manufacturer’s inertia despite being informed of the defect… These are all characteristic of planned obsolescence practices at Nintendo.”

Nintendo has treaded very lightly on the subject of Joy-Con drift, and only recently acknowledged it back in June 2020 when the company's CEO apologised for the lingering issue. Nintendo has not yet responded to these new allegations from UFC-Que Choisir, but it is clear that more adjustments need to be made to the way that Joy Con controllers are manufactured.

KitGuru Says: I just recently bit the bullet and spent £70 on a new pair of Joy-Cons after suffering from drift and disconnection issues for many months. So far, I've had no issues with my current pair, but it sounds like the issue will creep back up again eventually. Have many of you encountered Joy-Con drift on your Switch?

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