Nintendo of Europe has consented to a €35 million fine for issues related to Joy-Con drift defects

A fine of €35 million has been imposed on Nintendo of Europe by a French authority over claims regarding misleading information about defects in the original Switch Joy-Con controllers.

According to Le Monde, the investigation by France's General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) discovered that Nintendo knew about issues like drift as far back as 2018 but didn't disclose these issues until two years later.

This lack of disclosure led to customers purchasing unnecessary replacement controllers. The DGCCRF's findings indicate that Nintendo of Europe did not clearly communicate the presence of the defects to customers.

The investigation was triggered by a complaint lodged in 2020 by UFC-Que Choisir, a French consumer group, which had previously criticized Nintendo in 2019 for allegedly engaging in "planned obsolescence," claiming that even updates in manufacturing did not rectify the Joy-Con defects.

The term "planned obsolescence" refers to the practice of producing goods that have a limited useful life, causing consumers to need new replacements sooner than expected.

In a statement, Nintendo of Europe denied accusations of misleading the public, clarifying that their settlement is not an admission of guilt but rather a resolution to the legal matter.

This Joy-Con issue is part of broader challenges faced by Nintendo. In the US, a similar lawsuit was filed against Nintendo in 2019 and was eventually dismissed in 2024.

In the UK, consumer advocate Which said that drift problems affected more than 40% of the original-model Switch Joy-Con controllers.