Today, Nintendo announced that it’ll be permanently lowering the price on its replacement Joy-Con controllers. The company had been charging a premium to replace a broken or defective part of its unique Switch controllers, but now, pricing is being dropped to $40 from the original $50. Head below for all of the details on the new Nintendo Joy-Con replacement pricing.
Nintendo officially lowering replacement Joy-Con price
Originally slated to only roll out in Japan, Nintendo is lowering the price of its single Joy-Con here in the United States. Up until this news went live, Nintendo was charging a $10 premium on a replacement. Compared to picking up a pair at retail price, you’d be paying $50 for a single left or right gamepad, while the price for a complete set would only run you $40 apiece.
Now, over three and a half years after Nintendo first launched the Switch, the price is being updated to make replacing a damaged Joy-Con more affordable — or perhaps correcting the price to what it should have been all along. The price will soon drop to $39.99 for a single one of replacements, with your choice between the left and right Joy-Con.
For those hoping that the lowered price would mean they could finally grab a preferred color out of the two-tone Joy-Con pairs that come in a set, the announcement won’t be as exciting. Nintendo will only be offering the default neon blue left and neon red right versions of the controllers individually. So if there’s another color combination you’re looking to achieve, you’ll have to go with the complete set. Luckily, Amazon is running a sale right now seemingly unrelated to the news that drops a pair of Joy-Con in various colors to $69 from the usual $80 price tag.
The updated Nintendo Joy-Con replacement price won’t actually take effect until next month, on November 9. So until then, you’ll still end up having to shell out the original price tag.
Electronicsforward’ Take
The news from Nintendo today that it will be permanently dropping the price of its single Joy-Con is squarely aimed at those looking to replace a damaged controller, but technically anyone could score the lower price. Throughout much of 2020, and even back in 2019, the infamous issue of Joy-Con Drift became more and more widespread as Switch owners began to report in larger numbers that their controllers’ joysticks weren’t behaving as intended.
While there’s an ongoing battle over Nintendo’s liability over the issue, today’s announcement is at least a step in the right direction. I’m sure there are plenty of people who for some reason or another break the Joy-Con on their own accord, with the price cut news definitely benefiting them. But with the controllers that are defective on their own over time, it’s still not a good look for Nintendo to be charging even $40 to Switch owners just looking to play the console as was promised.
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