What Does the Nintendo of America President Say About the Switch Issues?
Nintendo’s newest console, the Switch, has been out for just over a week, along with the latest and greatest Zelda, and like any new technology, there are bound to be a few issues. There have been reports of Joy-Con connectivity issues and Switch dock scratching, both of which were addressed by Reggie Fils-Aimé in a recent interview with TIME.
Users have not only reported Joy-Con connectivity issues, which Nintendo responded to last week, but also the recent issue of scratched Nintendo Switch screens occurring after simply docking the unit. In the recent TIME interview, Nintendo of America President addressed these concerns, as well as a few other questions related to the possibility of future features, and accessory availability.
Reggie Fils-Aimé first addressed the connection issues plaguing the Joy-Cons, stating:
“First, we’ve seen the inquiries, and we here in the Americas are looking at all the information we can get our hands on. We are in the early days of a system launch, and so for us, we want as much consumer feedback as possible. We are directing consumers to contact us through Nintendo Support for any and all potential questions they may have. Specifically on Joy-Con syncing, all I can tell you is that 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.”
Following this interview, Nintendo later said, “The number [of Joy-Con replacement or repair requests received] is not significant, and is consistent with what we’ve seen for any new hardware we have launched.”
The President then discussed the dock screen scratching issue that some Switch owners have claimed occurred to them since launch. He said:
“Again, this is why we’re encouraging consumers to reach out to us directly. We have done, as you know, literally hundreds of events, starting with our activity back in January, and most recently the various tours that we continue to take the system out on. As soon as I heard of this report, I asked my teams, “Have we seen this in our own experience?” And the candid answer has been no. So throughout all of those experiences, throughout all the docking and undocking we’ve done, we haven’t seen it. So this is one where if it is happening, we want to understand more as to what the specific situation is. Which is why we want consumers to let us know through our support site.”
When asked about the docking system availability he clarified that it was no longer available due to scarcity, rather than because of these problems users have been dealing with.
“At Nintendo of America, we were the initial market that was pushing for the idea of a second dock. The production quantity is just not ramping up as quickly as we hoped it would. So it’s a pure availability situation. More will be available shortly. But certainly we understand the desire, and it’s something we pushed hard for from a production standpoint.”
Nintendo released a final statement on the Switch and any potential issues that users may be having as a whole and advised them to contact Nintendo support should any issues crop up.
“At Nintendo, we take great pride in creating quality products and we want our consumers to have a positive experience. It is common with any new innovative consumer technology for consumers to have questions, and Nintendo Switch is no exception. There are no widespread technical problems, and all issues are being handled promptly, including the reports regarding the left Joy-Con Bluetooth connection. To best support our customers, we continuously update the online consumer support site and provide real-time answers to the questions we are receiving. We want our consumers to get up and running quickly to have fun with Nintendo Switch, and if anything falls short of this goal we encourage them to contact Nintendo’s Consumer Service team. For help with any hardware or software questions, please visit: http://support.nintendo.com.”
Of course, it’s good to see Nintendo being honest about the problems that have been reported, however we can’t help but wonder if they might be playing down these issues just a bit. In any event, at least it seems they are listening to the consumers to make the Switch better.