UFC Que-Choisir, France’s main consumers group is suing Nintendo over claims that Nintendo is intentionally selling Joy-Cons that are designed to fail after less than a year of being used. UFC Que-Choisir claims to have done a study that shows that nearly 65% of joycons fail after less than a year regardless of the user’s profile and age and how much they play, with 25% failing after less than 6 months.
After having collected more than 5,000 testimonials in only forty-eight hours, they decided to “diligently conduct an expertise on several defective controllers, more or less recent, in order to analyze the origin of this failure,” they in their press release. Result :
“The experts noted that Nintendo had made changes to the design of its controllers a few months ago, but not to the problem that caused the failures. While Nintendo was informed of this malfunction, the Japanese giant chose not to intervene on the components subject to this failure. »
Experts have found two possible causes for the problem: “premature wear of the printed circuit boards” and “a leak that causes a disturbing amount of debris and dust within the joystick”. By not modifying these characteristics, denounces the association, “the company continues to sell joysticks that are destined to fail before the end of the first year of use, with full knowledge of the facts”. According to the association, “Nintendo indulges in practices of programmed obsolescence”.
The thousands of testimonials received by the UFC-Que choisir have allowed it to get a more accurate picture of the problem:
“65% of consumer victims noticed this breakdown less than a year after purchasing the controllers. It appears regardless of the player’s profile or age, even when playing less than five hours a week. Twenty-five percent of consumers even saw the failure occurring within six months of purchase, despite low usage of the console. »