The Nintendo Switch is the latest console to hit the market in the first week of March, and it has since seen phenomenal sales figures with a Day One update. This is to be expected for each new release of any hardware, but more importantly, will the list of launch titles on the Nintendo Switch be able to help provide enough momentum to propel the console to dominate the top spot in the hardware sales list every week or month, at least until the Xbox Scorpio or new generation PlayStation hits the market? Well, it has not been the smoothest of rides for the Nintendo Switch since its debut, experiencing growing pains along the way. This has led Nintendo to step forward to proclaim that, “We are in a fact-finding mode.”
Early adopters of the Nintendo Switch are naturally happy with the console, but this does not mean that the hybrid console is free from any kind of issues. Teething issues have appeared almost right away from using the console. Some gamers claim that they have encountered problems with the screen, including dead pixels and major visual malfunctions. Thankfully, these complaints are but a minority, and is far from the kind of corporate fallout that Samsung experienced with the exploding battery on the Samsung Galaxy Note 7.
Nintendo Switch gamepad has problems
However, apart from dead pixels and visual malfunctions, a far more common issue that has plagued the Nintendo Switch since its release would be the gamepads, which are fondly referred to as the Joy-Con controllers. The Joy-Con will be attached to both the right and left sides of the Nintendo Switch tablet, transforming it into a portable game console when that happens. Unfortunately, it looks like the left Joy-Con controller suffers from a lack of connecting or staying power to the Switch.
There has been reports of the left Joy-Con controller disconnected in the middle of the game from time to time, which is an unforgivable sin for hardcore gamers. Imagine when you have invested many hours to reach the boss level of a particular title, only to have the Joy-Con controller malfunction at the very last minute. That would be frustrating as heck to say the least!
Apparently, the disconnection has been attributed to the Switch console’s less-than-reliable Bluetooth connection, and seems to affect those who use the Switch as a home console. As long as the Switch is anywhere from 8 to 10 feet away, it runs into issues with the left Joy-Con controller via Bluetooth.
Nintendo is already aware of this particular issue through its support page. Not only that, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has shared in an interview with Time recently, “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.”
At least Nintendo is going to do something about it -- the sooner, the better. Will there be a recall? Probably not, but we do hope that a fix is forthcoming that will not require any trading in of hardware. What are some of the other issues that you have encountered with the Nintendo Switch so far?
