Switch 2 Joy-Con Don’t Have Drift-Resistant Hall Effect Sticks And Fans Are Worried

Nintendo has confirmed that Switch 2’s Joy-Cons will not use Hall Effect thumbsticks despite all the stick drift issues Switch owners have put up with since the console launched in 2017.

For years now Switch owners have experienced issues with their Joy-Con sticks moving incorrectly or without any input. This “stick drift” problem has cost Nintendo a lot of money and annoyed many players. One solution to this problem is to use Hall Effect thumbsticks that are basically resistant to drifting as they use magnetic fields and are less susceptible to parts wearing down and failing over time. Unfortunately, Nintendo isn’t using Hall Effect sticks for the Switch 2 Joy-Cons and that has a lot of fans nervous.

In a recent interview with Nintendo Life, Nate Bihldorff, senior vice president of product development & publishing at Nintendo of America, confirmed that the Switch 2 doesn’t use Hall Effect sticks.

“Well, the Joy-Con 2’s controllers have been designed from the ground up. They’re not Hall Effect sticks, but they feel really good,” said Bihldorff.

Bihldorff further explained that the sticks on the Pro Contoller are very quiet and feel great, but didn’t specify if they are Hall Effect thumbsticks or not. Based on the fact that Bihldorff’s media training kicked in when asked about stick drift (a negative topic) and he pivoted to something related, but positive, I’m guessing the Pro Controller also doesn’t have Hall Effect sticks.

The VP did reiterate something Nintendo previously confirmed, which is that the Joy-Con 2 controllers have been completely redesigned from the ground up.

“As you may have witnessed and felt, the new Joy-Con 2 controllers for the Nintendo Switch 2 have been really designed from the ground up from scratch, and they have been designed to have bigger movement and smoother movement,” said Switch 2 hardware design lead Tetsuya Sasaki last week during a press event.

That’s nice and all, but if you look at the replies toNintendo Life’s tweet about the lack of Hall Effect sticks, you can see a lot of people who are worried that the Switch 2 will be plagued with stick drift issues. This news, coupled with high prices, delayed pre-orders, and questions about what is included in a Switch 2 physical game case, have really overshadowed what was likely supposed to be a big, fun reveal for Nintendo. It will be interesting to see how the company navigates the current storm.