Nintendo is now also repairing “drift” consoles in the Netherlands for free

Nintendo game controllers have been a thorny problem for years because they can start to “drift” over time. This causes the controller to register movement that isn’t really there, causing your character to unintentionally move in one direction.

The PC game maker has allowed customers in America and France to send in all of their consoles for free repair. Now the company has also put up a web page online where the Dutch can register their faulty equipment.

Dutch page

on the page Nintendo explains what customers can do to properly calibrate their faulty consoles. If that fails and there is a problem with the hardware, customers can send the gamepad in for repair.

Nintendo maintains that it can refuse to repair the console for free if it turns out that an accessory from another manufacturer is causing the problems, if the game console has been rented to other people or if the hardware has been dropped, for example.

Cash consumer associations

In recent years, control issues have been raised by many consumer organizations. For example, a consumer association started a hotline in 2020. A year later, European consumer associations together called for a European approach to Nintendo.

Nintendo stated in 2017 that drift cannot simply be resolved. In recent years, other manufacturers have invested increasingly in so-called “hall sensors,” sticks for controllers that are less sensitive to drift.

Previously, internal documents had already been leaked showing that Nintendo actually repairs consoles for free in many cases.