Nintendo Switch's Joy-Cons Getting Revamp Will This Be More Fragile?

Clearly Nintendo is not letting recent troubles with faulty Joy-Con controllers deter it from exploring new ways to innovate its gaming hardware. A recent patent filing with the American USPTO designs for a bendable Switch Joy-Con controller that could improves its ergonomics and usability.

The update Joy-Cons look nearly identical to the versions available for the original Switch model, and can still be removed and detached as needed. But the upper portion on each side (featuring an analogue stick on the left Joy-Con and a set of four action buttons on the right) can be bent downwards so the tiny controllers feel better in the hand and improve finger access to the underside trigger buttons on each.

However the design update doesn’t bring any functional changes to the way the Joy-Cons are used, but it would require big changes to the electronic guts of each controller.

That’s probably why Nintendo hasn’t implemented these changes just yet, despite originally filing a patent for this design in Japan back in late February of 2018. But since the company is now filing for it in the U.S. as well it looks like the gaming powers that be will be moving forward with the Joy-Con.

I can’t say if being able to bend each controller would improve that, but as an advocate for simpler designs in electronics, I’d be willing to even try these out.

Illustration: Nintendo, US Patent & Trademark Office