Nintendo of Europe fined €35 million over Joy‑Con drift

Nintendo of Europe has agreed to pay a 35 million euro fine, equivalent to more than 40 million dollars, after French regulators concluded the company misled consumers about widespread defects in its Switch Joy-Con controllers. The fine was announced on Monday, June 8, 2026, by France's General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF).

The regulator found that Nintendo was aware of technical defects, including a phenomenon known as "Joy-Con drift," as early as 2018 but did not properly inform consumers until 2020. The drift issue, reported since the Switch console's launch in 2017, causes controllers to register movement inputs even when they are not being touched. The DGCCRF stated that Nintendo's failure to provide clear and timely information between 2018 and 2023 constituted a misleading commercial practice. This lack of communication, authorities argued, led some consumers to purchase replacement controllers instead of seeking repairs from the company.

The investigation began following a 2020 complaint from the French consumer association UFC-Que Choisir, which had previously raised concerns in 2019 about possible "planned obsolescence,"...