There have been some connectivity issues uncovered with the Nintendo Switch's Joy-Cons ever since the console's launch earlier this month, and Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aimé recently spoke to Time about this, assuring players that the company are aware of these issues.
"First, we've seen the inquiries," he started, "and we here in the Americas are looking at all the information we can get our hands on. We are in the early days of a system launch, and so for us, we want as much consumer feedback as possible. We are directing consumers to contact us through Nintendo Support for any and all potential questions they may have."
"Specifically on Joy-Con syncing, all I can tell you is that we are aware of and have seen some of the reports. We're asking consumers a lot of questions. That's why we want to get consumers on our help line, so we can get as much information to understand the situation as possible. And so we are in a fact-finding mode, to really understand the situation and the scenarios. And with that information, we'll look and see what the next steps are."
In terms of replacement and repair requests, Time has also received a statement from Nintendo claiming that the number of these "is not significant, and is consistent with what we've seen for any new hardware we have launched."
Going back to Fils-Aimé, he also discussed reports of the dock scratching the Switch screen. "Again, this is why we're encouraging consumers to reach out to us directly," he said. "We have done, as you know, literally hundreds of events, starting with our activity back in January, and most recently the various tours that we continue to take the system out on. As soon as I heard of this report, I asked my teams, "Have we seen this in our own experience?" And the candid answer has been no."
"So throughout all of those experiences, throughout all the docking and undocking we've done, we haven't seen it. So this is one where if it is happening, we want to understand more as to what the specific situation is. Which is why we want consumers to let us know through our support site."
During the same interview, Fils-Aimé also said that the company understand the desire for standalone docks, and it's "something we pushed hard for from a production standpoint," and that it's unlikely that Nintendo might offer a USB/HDMI combo cable to attach the Switch to a TV without using the dock.
Since the original article was posted by Time, however, Nintendo has provided them with another statement regarding Switch support queries: "At Nintendo, we take great pride in creating quality products and we want our consumers to have a positive experience. It is common with any new innovative consumer technology for consumers to have questions, and Nintendo Switch is no exception. There are no widespread technical problems, and all issues are being handled promptly, including the reports regarding the left Joy-Con Bluetooth connection. To best support our customers, we continuously update the online consumer support site and provide real-time answers to the questions we are receiving. We want our consumers to get up and running quickly to have fun with Nintendo Switch, and if anything falls short of this goal we encourage them to contact Nintendo's Consumer Service team. For help with any hardware or software questions, please visit: https://support.nintendo.com."
Do you think these issues with the screen and Joy-Cons are big enough to warrant major attention?