Nintendo has launched a subscription service for Switch repairs in Japan
The ‘Wide Care’ service costs $15/£12 per year
Nintendo has launched a new subscription service for Switch repairs in Japan.
Priced at 200 yen per month ($1.50/£1.20) or 2,000 yen per year ($15/£12), Wide Care is billed as “a flat-rate repair warranty service that can be subscribed to at any time”.
Products covered include Switch and Switch Lite consoles, Joy-Con controllers, the Switch dock and AC adapters.
On an annual basis, members can claim up to six repairs (including two that involve the replacement of the console) and up to 100,000 yen ($738/£609) in repair costs.
In addition to natural breakdowns, water damage and accidental damage are covered.
Users need a smartphone or tablet with a camera function to subscribe to Wide Care, which also covers shipping costs.
It’s unclear if there are plans to launch the service outside of Japan, but we’ve asked Nintendo and will update this story if we hear back from it.
One of the most regular complaints with Switch hardware has been the tendency of its Joy-Con controllers to drift, a fault which causes analogue sticks to randomly move and input commands to the console.
Nintendo has faced multiple Switch Joy-Con drift lawsuits alleging that it is aware of the problem but has chosen to continue selling defective products rather than fix it.
The company said last October that the Joy-Cons included with the Switch OLED model are the “latest version”, with improvements made to combat analogue stick drift.
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However, the general manager of Nintendo’s technology development division also said that all analogue sticks wear over time because the parts are physically in contact.
“For example, car tires wear out as the car moves, as they are in constant friction with the ground to rotate,” said Ko Shiota.
“So with that same premise, we asked ourselves how we can improve durability, and not only that, but how can both operability and durability coexist? It’s something we are continuously tackling.”
