Nintendo says the Switch 2 Joy-Cons were rebuilt from the ground up, but early hardware breakdowns suggest they’re quite similar to the originals under the hood, and comparably prone to the analog stick drift that plagued the original console.
Fearing a repeat, some fans have preemptively latched onto Nintendo’s repair service. I’ve seen some people preach about the ‘free drift repair’ Nintendo’s offering, which isn’t totally accurate, but there is indeed a free repair option for busted controllers.
It is likely no coincidence that busted Joy-Con 2 controllers have their own service request form in Nintendo’s online customer support desk. (I could only view the US / Canada version for this testing, but users in other regions have reported similar findings.) If you select “controller” as your affected product under physical damage, and then specify Joy-Con 2, you’re prompted to begin a Joy-Con 2 request.
You can select from a variety of “symptoms” for repair on this page, but you’ll notice a distinct lack of drift on the list, which includes:
- Unable to attach or detach Joy-Con 2 / Joy-Con from the console
- Joy-Con 2 / Joy-Con Stick feels loose
- Joy-Con 2 / Joy-Con R or L stick doesn’t work
- Physical damage to Joy-Con 2 / Joy-Con
- Joy-Con 2 / Joy-Con buttons don’t work
- Joy-Con 2 Mouse sensor isn’t functioning
Frankly, if you were suffering from good old-fashioned stick drift – and so soon after launch, drift would have to come from a manufacturing defect rather than wear and tear from use – I don’t know what you’d want to select here. “Doesn’t work” feels pretty apt, but “loose” and “physical damage” aren’t off-base either.
Anyway, I did go through the service process – without actually submitting an empty claim, lest the Nintendo Ninjas appear at my doorstep – to confirm that, yep, you can send in a faulty Joy-Con 2 free of charge. No price, shipping, or tax, at least at this stage of the request.
This isn’t the Hall Effect drift prevention that Switch 2 hopefuls had been looking for, but as a reactive solution it does provide some peace of mind. Just, uh, make do without your Joy-Cons while they’re in transit purgatory.
