Consumer rights groups launch joint investigation into Nintendo Switch Joy-Con drift

Consumer rights groups from the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Clovenia and Slovakia, along with the European Consumer Organization (BEUC) are encouraging Switch owners to reach out and disclose any issues they've had with 'Joy-Con drift' while using the console's detachable controllers

Joy-Con drift refers to an issue where a Switch controller will still output movement as if its joystick has been moved, despite the joystick remaining untouched in a neutral position.

It's an issue that generated a fair amount of frustration last year when Nintendo Switch owners collectively realized it was a wide-spread hardware flaw that seemingly affects Switch Joy-Cons and the Switch Lite's built-in joysticks.

According to VGC, the joint investigation aims to open a dialogue with Nintendo that'll encourage the console maker to address an issue that has been present in its Joy-Con controllers for some time now.

Failing that, a translation of a Consumers' Association statement says that the group is willing to take the issue to court.

It wouldn't be the first time Nintendo has been accused of peddling defective hardware via a lawsuit. Just last year, a class-action lawsuit in the United States collected multiple testimonies from Switch owners that had ran into trouble with their Joy-Cons, including one individual that said he'd had the drifting issue with both new and freshly repaired controllers.

The US class-action has since been moved into arbitration after a judge decided that the purchase of a Nintendo Switch console locks its owners into a valid arbitration agreement with Nintendo.