A new Nintendo controller patent appears to include magnetic analogue sticks, which some have suggested raises hopes the company’s next generation console won’t suffer the drift issues that have plagued the Switch.
Video game accessibility consultant Laura Kate Dale linked to the patent in a post on X, saying that if this patent relates to the controller for the rumoured Switch 2 console, “this should end analogue stick drift issues next-gen.”
The timing feels about right for Nintendo patent filings to be pretty directly for their next gen hardware.
— Laura Kate Dale - Mastodon "@LauraKBuzz@tech.lgbt" (@LaurakBuzz) September 11, 2023
If these are included as default on Switch 2 Joy-Cons, it'll basically do away with stick drift as a concern.
Nintendo filed the patent with the United States Patent Office in May, but was only published on September 7. It describes the inner workings of an analog stick that uses a magnetic field to communicate movement, aka a Hall Effect joystick.
This is different to the tech seen inside a Switch’s Joy-Con, which uses plastic circuit boards that can show significant wear on the joystick slider contact points. Joy-Con “drift” is perhaps the biggest fault-related issue with the Nintendo Switch. In 2022, a report from UK consumer group Which claimed that, even after just a few months of use, the Joy-Con's plastic circuit boards show significant wear on the joystick slider contact points. This causes Joy-Con drift, an issue Nintendo hasn't been able to fully address in the console's six years on the market.
Nintendo disagreed the issue is so prevalent, however, saying in response to the survey that only a small number of controllers are affected and that it's improved the design several times since launch.
"The percentage of Joy-Con controllers that have been reported as experiencing issues with the analogue stick in the past is small, and we have been making continuous improvements to the Joy-Con analogue stick since its launch in 2017," it said.
"We expect all our hardware to perform as designed, and, if anything falls short of this goal, we always encourage consumers to contact Nintendo customer support, who will be happy to openly and leniently resolve any consumer issues related to the Joy-Con controllers’ analogue sticks, including in cases where the warranty may no longer apply."
Switch 2 reports are ramping up. Nintendo reportedly revealed its next-gen console behind closed doors at gamescom 2023 last month. According to Eurogamer, the Switch 2 was shown running a ‘souped up’ version of Switch launch title Zelda: Breath of the Wild, although there’s apparently no suggestion the game will be re-released. Meanwhile, VGC reported Nintendo showed off Epic’s The Matrix Awakens Unreal Engine 5 tech demo running on hardware with the specs Nintendo is targeting for its future console. The site said this demo ran using Nvidia’s AI-powered DLSS upscaling technology alongside ray tracing, with visuals “comparable” to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles.
Nintendo is reportedly set to release its next-gen console during the second half of 2024, with development kits now with partner studios. Apparently this new next-gen console can be used in portable mode, like the Nintendo Switch, and has an LCD screen as opposed to an OLED screen in order to keep costs down. It also comes with a cartridge slot for physical games. However, the crucial question of backwards compatibility with Nintendo Switch games remains unclear. Nintendo has yet to comment on the reports.
In May, Nintendo said it's the long-rumoured Switch successor wouldn't release until April 2024 at the earliest. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa explained during an investors presentation that the company isn't considering new hardware in the 2023/24 financial year, which ends March 31, 2024.
This comes despite a decline in Switch sales. The console sold close to 18 million units in the last financial year, down from 23 million sold the year before and 28 million the year before that. Nintendo isn't looking to rush a new console out to tackle this decline though, as it has forecast another drop for the coming year.
"Sustaining the Switch's sales momentum will be difficult in its seventh year," said Furukawa during the presentation. "Our goal of selling 15 million units this fiscal year is a bit of a stretch, but we will do our best to bolster demand going into the holiday season so that we can achieve the goal."
Rumours surrounding a new console have been circulating for years. The new console was said to offer boosted graphics akin to the PlayStation 4 and its Pro model, but there is no official information regarding the next piece of Nintendo hardware yet.
Last week, Nintendo said it had moved on to a brand new The Legend of Zelda game, ruling out Tears of the Kingdom DLC. It seems likely this new Zelda game will launch on Nintendo's next console. But will Nintendo re-release Tears of the Kingdom on Switch 2?
Meanwhile, Nintendo has announced a raft of games for Switch due out between now and the end of its fiscal year. These include Detective Pikachu Returns, the aforementioned Super Mario Bros. Wonder, WarioWare: Move It!, a Super Mario RPG remake, Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet DLC, a visually enhanced version of Nintendo 3DS game Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, and an untitled Princess Peach game. Nintendo still lists the MIA Metroid Prime 4 as a Nintendo Switch game.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
