WTF?! Nintendo has long had a reputation for appealing to kids, but it definitely doesn't want them involved in a class-action lawsuit over the notorious Joy-Con drift issues. If two children aren't allowed to sue the Japanese gaming giant, the whole case will likely fall apart.
The strange scenario revolves around the long-running Joy-Con drifting issues. There have been numerous complaints of the Nintendo Switch controller automatically drifting across in one direction after extended use, leading to lawsuits, free repairs, and Nintendo making a rare apology.
Axios reports that previous class-action lawsuits from 2019 and 2020 have "largely stalled out" and been sent to arbitration for resolution. In one of the cases, Sanchez et. al. v. Nintendo of America, which is being proposed by two mothers who bought Nintendo Switch consoles for their children, there could be an unusual solution.
The problem for the plaintiffs is that Switch owners are prompted to digitally agree to the console's End User License Agreement (EULA), which includes a waiver on pursuing any class-action suits. This waiver is what triggered the arbitration.
However, the EULA agreement must be accepted by someone over the age of 18. The mothers in the Sanchez case say their children can't be bound by the EULA because they are minors, and therefore want the suit to proceed on behalf of the kids.
Nintendo, of course, says otherwise. It argues that the children weren't the ones who purchased the Switch console "and allege no cognizable harm to themselves."
The case will go before a federal judge in California today.
While the Joy-Con drift issues might be the most famous case, there have also been class-actions filed against Microsoft and Sony over claims their respective controllers suffer the same problem.