You know what they say: never buy a console out of launch. But some of us just can't resist, right? Screw it I'm getting one... wait! maybe not.



This video provides visual proof of a variety of problems people are having across the globe. We hope these early adopters will be able to get their consoles replaced or fixed quick!

Also, not visible in the video: 1.99 million other consoles working normally

 

[HaloEffect17]

Oh, you must be new to gaming.
This is Nintendo. They sell systems. Some work, some don't.
Now hold your horses and settle down.

I'm pretty sure he was joking.

 

[KingpinSlim]

I'm pretty sure he was joking.

Meh. I like to complain about things that have no relevance whatsoever.
Leave me be.

 

[Stwert]

Console defects are usually discovered by a consumer (and posted to social media) when a console is brand new. As a result, two million Switches sold day 1 makes for a deluge of disaster stories all at once -- which is what you're seeing here. This special scenario won't be repeated as the console will be trickle fed to consumers for the rest of the platform's life.

This is true with all console launches, not just the Switch. Think about it, at a typical industry average of 3% defective rate, that means 60,000 people will have borked Switches on launch day. Combine this fact with social media and youtube and you'll see much larger than usual flood of videos and whatnot of people complaining about their system. The 97% of people who don't have issues will just be quietly playing zelda and not making angry videos.

Exactly, nice to see some sensible people around.
Like you say defective units are not only normal, they are expected, even by the manufacturer. It's true not just of consoles but of every single product. Especially in the tech world.

It's simply not possible to manufacture these things with a 0% failure rate, never going to happen.
Even if you took a ludicrously low failure rate of 1% (generally it's a few percentage points higher) and taking into account the supposed 2 million Switch consoles manufactured. That's 20,000 faulty consoles out in the wild.

As human nature dictates that the people with faulty units are significantly more vocal than those with perfectly functioning devices (we all like a good grumble when things go wrong ) it's only natural you're going to hear a lot about the faulty devices.

There's a general rule of thumb when it comes to buying anything, but especially tech items. Never, ever base your buying decisions on what you read on the internet or see in the media, without further research. Because the vast majority of the time the negative press is based on a small subset of consumers and just gets blown out of proportion.

If there are actual design flaws in any device that will affect all customers, then nothing short of a product recall will do for the company to save face and keep consumers happy. Be that a full recall of all associated hardware or just a partial recall of faulty components. Then you will hear about it, not just in the media but direct from the manufacturer.

Just look at the unfortunate situation Samsung had recently with exploding batteries. Now that was a real problem.

Personally I've never been unfortunate enough to have a tech product that's been in need of a recall, thankfully. I'm not saying I've never had faulty devices, of course I have but that's normal.
Even with my current car, I've received a letter to say it's going to have to go back for them to refit a part for safety reasons. Am I bothered, will it put me off in future? No, because these things happen from time to time, at most it's a minor inconvenience to get a fix sorted out.

Right that's enough rambling, bloody sleep deprivation

 

[TheCyberQuake]

Exactly, nice to see some sensible people around.
Like you say defective units are not only normal, they are expected, even by the manufacturer. It's true not just of consoles but of every single product. Especially in the tech world.

It's simply not possible to manufacture these things with a 0% failure rate, never going to happen.
Even if you took a ludicrously low failure rate of 1% (generally it's a few percentage points higher) and taking into account the supposed 2 million Switch consoles manufactured. That's 20,000 faulty consoles out in the wild.

As human nature dictates that the people with faulty units are significantly more vocal than those with perfectly functioning devices (we all like a good grumble when things go wrong ) it's only natural you're going to hear a lot about the faulty devices.

There's a general rule of thumb when it comes to buying anything, but especially tech items. Never, ever base your buying decisions on what you read on the internet or see in the media, without further research. Because the vast majority of the time the negative press is based on a small subset of consumers and just gets blown out of proportion.

If there are actual design flaws in any device that will affect all customers, then nothing short of a product recall will do for the company to save face and keep consumers happy. Be that a full recall of all associated hardware or just a partial recall of faulty components. Then you will hear about it, not just in the media but direct from the manufacturer.

Just look at the unfortunate situation Samsung had recently with exploding batteries. Now that was a real problem.

Personally I've never been unfortunate enough to have a tech product that's been in need of a recall, thankfully. I'm not saying I've never had faulty devices, of course I have but that's normal.
Even with my current car, I've received a letter to say it's going to have to go back for them to refit a part for safety reasons. Am I bothered, will it put me off in future? No, because these things happen from time to time, at most it's a minor inconvenience to get a fix sorted out.

Right that's enough rambling, bloody sleep deprivation

AMEN to that.

 

[raystriker]

No offence, but the title sounds like a clickbait title one you see on mainstream media articles today.

I'm sorry for the people whose Switches did not perform as intended but at the same time I shall take their credibility with a Dead sea of salt. People will genuinely do anything for the clicks and increase their popularity and the attention on the platforms. This may or may not apply to everyone.

 

[Deleted member 333767]

I'm still trying to interpret whether or not the switch's launch hardware is plagued with a higher than average failure rate;

OR the Switch's the hardware is good and the amount of anecdotal reports, picture and video evidence is directly correlated with the internet enabling people to communicate to the masses.

We've had a lot of next gen console releases since youtube and message boards were a thing. I don't remember seeing any 12 minute defect montage videos within a week of their releases though

 

[DiscostewSM]

wait, what? really? xD

I don't recall missing HDMI ports, but I do recall an issue with the HDMI port not allowing HDMI cables to be inserted all the way because of a pin in the port that was bent. Straightening it out fixed the issue, but it having been like that gave the non-techie people the impression that they got defective units.

 

[HaloEffect17]

I'll agree with you on the joycon issue, but IMO the dock isn't a big deal.

Oh, so they put the Joy Con strap on backwards and that's how it got stuck?

 

[TheCyberQuake]

Oh, so they put the Joy Con on backwards and that's how it got stuck?

More upside-down than backwards, but yeah.
Edit: The strap, not the joycon

 

[biged8385]

My switch has had no problems whatsoever. With every new product there will always be some lemons no biggie just get a refund.

 

[TheCyberQuake]

My switch has had no problems whatsoever. With every new product there will always be some lemons no biggie just get a refund.

A refund or exchange. Though it seems most people here are concerned more with design flaws like the joycon straps or the weak dock

 

[Kioku]

A refund or exchange. Though it seems most people here are concerned more with design flaws like the joycon straps or the weak dock

The joycon straps only get stuck if you're not paying attention. The plus and minus show which way they go. A fail safe is apparently in order for the revisions though as it's too hard for some people.

 

[TheCyberQuake]

The joycon straps only get stuck if you're not paying attention. The plus and minus show which way they go. A fail safe is apparently in order for the revisions though and it's too hard for some people.

Nintendo thought people were smart enough to match shapes, but I guess not.

 

[Kioku]

Nintendo thought people were smart enough to match shapes, but I guess not.

The Square goes in the circle. I've made it happen dammit.

 

[TheCyberQuake]

Actually I just realized why some people may be sliding them on wrong. When you slide the joycon into the console vs sliding the strap on are going opposite directions down the joycon. Maybe that's why people are putting it on wrong?

 

[Kioku]

Actually I just realized why some people may be sliding them on wrong. When you slide the joycon into the console vs sliding the strap on are going opposite directions down the joycon. Maybe that's why people are putting it on wrong?

It's a possibility. Doesn't change the fact that looking at what you're doing is the most ignored step here.

 

[Sicklyboy]

Looks like a LOT of failed/failing graphics chipsets and a poorly designed dock.

It's a possibility. Doesn't change the fact that looking at what you're doing is the most ignored step here.

I played my buddy's Switch last Friday. When it was my turn and we were going into a game that used the strap, it's a good thing that the correct strap for my joycon was already on the coffee table in front of me, because I didn't even know until I watched the video above yesterday that they too are marked with pluses and minuses.

 

[TheCyberQuake]

Looks like a LOT of failed/failing graphics chipsets and a poorly designed dock.



I played my buddy's Switch last Friday. When it was my turn and we were going into a game that used the strap, it's a good thing that the correct strap for my joycon was already on the coffee table in front of me, because I didn't even know until I watched the video above yesterday that they too are marked with pluses and minuses.

the straps are universal. Both straps work on both joycon.

 

[KingVamp]

It is a shame that this was made front page, especially after someone move a similar post away from user News, but at least this may stop people from making multiple threads with the same video.

 

[SonicMC]

OK... We get it there are some problems.

Straps: annoying but easily learn able and videos for fixes... https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=straps+backwards+switch
Dock: scratches very annoying; but screen protector helps and some other possibilities ... https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dock+fix+switch

Have we had any switch fires yet? http://time.com/4485396/samsung-note-7-battery-fire-why/

More importantly for people who were unable to get an in store exchange for things like these below:

Joycon doesn't detect or charge; orange screen, blue screen, GREEN screen, and glitchyness

1. How long for nintendo to fix/replace your console? From send-in to get-back (don't include days you had received the postage label but didn't get it to the shipping company)
2. Did the fix/replacement work? If not do you have to send it in again?
3. Did they actually fix any of the ones sent in or is everyone just receiving replacements.

It's always a bummer to have a system break; my wii u that I sent in; I think they quoted 2 weeks but it didn't take that long; but wasn't during launch either. Interested in seeing what people might be waiting on launch of a system.