A federal judge has dismissed the lawsuit explaining that as "de facto owners" parents had agreed to terms that "disallow lawsuits."
A US judge has dismissed a class-action lawsuit brought forward by parents regarding the Joy-Con drift issue on the Nintendo Switch.
It's worth noting that the dismissal was not related to determining the validity or invalidity of the Joy-Con drift issue but rather based on the fact that players agreed to Nintendo's End User License Agreement (EULA) which prohibits them to take legal action against the company.
Despite the plaintiffs' argument that the players – the children – could not have knowingly accepted the license terms, the judge said that as the "de facto owners" of the Switch devices, the parents had agreed to terms that "disallow lawsuits" through the EULA (via NE). Based on this, the judge stated that the parents should have sought alternative legal avenues such as arbitration rather than pursuing a lawsuit, as instructed by the EULA.
The Joy-Con drift issue, the problem when the controllers register a directional input even when none is being made, was first brought to attention back in 2019. Although it does not affect game functionality much, it can still be a frustrating experience for players as it causes the camera to slightly shift to one side.
Since the problem came to light, multiple class-action lawsuits have been filed against Nintendo, including claims from players experiencing Joy-Con drift on the newly released Nintendo Switch Lite. Despite Nintendo issuing its official apology last year for the ongoing Joy-Con drift issues faced by Switch owners, the legal actions from affected parties didn't stop.
Late last year, a UK consumer group Which? published a study whose results found that the controller's drift is due to a "design flaw" – the lab analysis showed that there was dust inside Joy-Cons with drift issues despite dust proofing cowls on the joysticks which made the consumer watchdog believe that this protection was insufficient.
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