Nintendo has officially acknowledged the much reported connectivity issue that’s plaguing the Switch‘s Joy Con controller.

Apparently, this problem was actually raised before the console’s launch last week by a handful of reviewers. I am assuming that most might have put this down to software that still needed tweaking.

Joy Con issues

The buggy controls made themselves known by the signal from the left Joy Con controller becoming intermittent.

In Zelda, for instance, this could lead to deaths when the character continued to walk in an unwanted direction or didn’t react to button presses. Not great for gamers.

Testing of the problem seemed to suggest that the controller’s signal was easily interfered with by either objects sat between it and the Switch dock, or simply by distance.

Certainly since launch users have themselves complained of the problem, although it does not appear to be universal.

Nintendo Switch Joy Con issue workarounds

Nintendo has, up until now, been rather quiet about the situation potentially whilst working on a resolution to the issue.

However, MCVUK has reported that there is now a specific support page on the Nintendo website. Here gamers can find a few fixes or, rather, workarounds.

Helpful advice such as

…decreasing the distance between the Joy-Con and the console”

The page also mentions that you should ensure the Switch is not:

• Sat behind a TV
• In or under a metal object
• Pressed against a large amount of wires and cords
• Within three to four feet of another wireless device, such as a wireless speaker or a wireless access point or, oddly, near an aquarium.

Does anyone else think that Nintendo is clutching at straws here?

Let’s face it, some of these are quite tricky to avoid in the modern home.

Do you happen to have any laptops, tablets, wireless headsets, wireless printers, microwaves, wireless speakers, cordless phones? How about USB 3.0-compatible devices such as hard drives, thumb drives or LAN adapters, etc? Well, Nintendo suggests that you turn all of these off too.

The list even included mobile phones, although that has since been removed.

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Good advice or poor testing?

Now, a brand new bit of tech that, assumingly, was designed for use in the 21st Century should have already been tested in ‘real world’ environments. I am guessing that the testers may have had laptops or tablets with them and the rooms packed with cables.

Surely the demographic that the Nintendo Switch is aimed at would live in a household containing wireless tech, tablets and the like?

Needless to say, the company’s advice wasn’t particularly well received.

Nintendo has not yet indicated whether the problem is a hardware issue or something that can be addressed via a software update.

For their sake, I hope a quick patch is all it takes.

Have you had any issues with your Joy Con?