Microsoft began facing a class-action lawsuit earlier in the year that alleged Xbox One controllers to be suffering from a widespread case of drifting issues. That ongoing lawsuit has now been amended to include the most recent (and most expensive) Elite Series 2 lineup of wireless controllers.
According to a report by VGC earlier today, seven additional plaintiffs have come forward in the United States Court for the Western District of Washington to have the case go before a jury to address drifting defects that plague various Xbox One controller models, including Elite Series 2 as well as the older Elite Series.
The lawsuit alleges that “a large volume of consumers have been complaining about stick drift on Xbox One controllers since at least 2014.” However, despite recorded complaints, Microsoft “failed to disclose the defect and routinely refuses to repair the controllers without charge when the defect manifests.”
The lawsuit further argues that Microsoft either knew about the drifting defects beforehand or was made aware by users. The plaintiffs have experienced drifting issues on multiple Elite Series controllers, including the latest Elite Series 2 lineup, as well as the normal Xbox One controllers.
Elite Series controllers have been touted by Microsoft to offer ultimate precision as the most advanced game controllers in the world. The lawsuit points out that the public has a right to know if such claims are fraudulent and hence, Microsoft should at least be warning consumers about a design defect in its products.
The root cause appears to be “a known design flaw related to a grease-like lubricant, which causes resistive material scraped off a curved track to cause unwanted movement without input from the user.” Microsoft, however, has not passed on any official acknowledgement over the claim.
Microsoft is not alone in drifting defects. Nintendo has been facing class-action lawsuits for drifting Joy-Con controllers as well. In a similar turn of events, a prior lawsuit was amended to push Nintendo to redesign the Joy-Con controllers for Nintendo Switch. Nintendo has also been alleged in court for “planned obsolescence,” meaning that Nintendo intentionally designed Joy-Con controllers to break down so that players have to frequently purchase replacements.
