Nintendo has reportedly argued that Joy-Con drift “isn’t a real problem” and “hasn’t caused anyone any inconvenience” in an on-going class-action lawsuit against the company.
The information comes from an email update sent out by Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith LLP, the law firm representing those affected by reported Joy-Con drift.
Thanks to redditor mittenscone, the e-mail has been made public along with a request. Posted by mittenscone on the subreddit r/NintendoSwitch, here is the e-mail (errors and all):
“Thank you for contacting our law firm about the Nintendo Switch Joy-Con Drift litigation. We are working on putting together a montage of video clips from Nintendo Switch owners such as yourself as a way to give voice to the joy-con drift issues you’ve experienced. This will be helpful to us in responding to Nintendo’s arguments about how this isn’t a real problem or hasn’t caused anyone any inconvenience.
In an effort to humanize and demonstrate these issues and their impact on consumers, it would be helpful to our prosecution of the case if you would submit a short (90 seconds or less) video to us describing your experience with the Joy-Con drift on your controllers. You can record it on your phone and email us the video. We will combine the results we receive from all of the consumers who contacted us into a video that we plan to share with Nintendo’s attorneys and the company’s representatives. The video should describe the following, if applicable:
- Begin by identifying why you originally purchased the Switch, or any relevant details about your background as a longstanding Nintendo fan (if applicable).
- Describe all of the problems or issues you experienced related with the drift problem on your Joy Con controllers.
- If you’ve had multiple repairs and have had to contact Nintendo several times, please explain whether it was successful in the end. Please provide any details about how long you estimate having to spend on the phone with them, how many replacement Joy Cons you received, and whether any of those failed again (and if so what happened).
- If you want Nintendo to know how this has affected your confidence in the Nintendo brand or the likelihood that you would ever buy another Nintendo product again, you are free to convey those feelings.
Please submit your video to us at nintendoclassaction@chimicles.com by Friday, October 16. If you have any questions please let us know.
Thank you in advance for your time and attention.”
What’s catching everyone’s attention is a particular sentence: “This will be helpful to us in responding to Nintendo’s arguments about how this isn’t a real problem or hasn’t caused anyone any inconvenience.”
For those who’ve had to send their Joy-Cons in for repairs (and even pay for them prior to the “free repairs” change) and wait for weeks to receive their controllers, they would beg to differ about that defense.
As for why Chimicles is asking for testimonials, it’s due to the current status of the case. The judge overseeing the lawsuit declared that it would be decided by arbitration – where both parties would present their argument to a third-party that would make a decision. Usually, these third-parties (arbitrators) are lawyers, retired judges, or considered “experts” in their field.
In order to present a strong offense, the best approach is to gather as many witnesses and tell their first-hand accounts.
With over 61 million Nintendo Switch units sold, there are plenty of stories that could possibly convince the arbitrator to find Nintendo at fault and possibly lead to a Joy-Con redesign.
For now, Chimicles is accepting for the next two weeks. If you would like to read more about the case, you can visit Chimicles’s website dedicated to the lawsuit as well as previous coverage here at Nintendo Wire.
