The European Consumer Organization (BEUC) is asking the European Commission to investigate Nintendo Joy-Con’s complaints of misuse. The BEUC group represents more than 40 consumer organizations across the European Union, and the umbrella organization says it has received almost 25,000 consumer complaints across Europe about defective Joy-Con controllers.
“According to consumer testimonials, in 88 percent of cases, game controllers broke in the first two years of use,” says BEUC (via Eurogamer) The group has now lodged a complaint with the European Commission, alleging that Nintendo is involved in premature obsolescence and “misleading omissions of essential consumer information”.
Nintendo Switch owners have reported problems with the console’s Joy-Con removable controls since its launch almost four years ago. Most reports focus on strange joystick bypass problems that create false entries. Nintendo will repair the diverted Joy-Con controllers for free, but even the renewed Switch models are having problems.
“BEUC and its members are very concerned that Nintendo continues to sell a product that has been continuously reported to Nintendo and the media by consumers as failing prematurely,” said Ursula Pachl, BEUC deputy general director, in a letter to the European Commission. “Product obsolescence means that consumers often need to purchase a new set of game controllers after a short period of time, also because of the disproportionate costs and practical charges that consumers would face when trying to make repairs.”
The European Commission will now have to decide whether to open a formal investigation into the issues of the Joy-Con diversion. Nintendo also faces two possible class action lawsuits. One was filed by the law firm Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith in 2019, and the second was filed in California on the same issue in October 2020.