Nintendo Doesn’t Think Switch Devices With Dead Pixels Are Defective

Image courtesy of Nintendo

If you spend $300 on a new gaming device, you’d hope that it wouldn’t come out of the box with dead pixels that will remain a constant visual annoyance for the lifespan of the device. You’d probably call such a product “defective,” but the folks at Nintendo would disagree..

The new Nintendo Switch has only been available in the U.S. for a handful of days, but owners have already posted a plethora of complaints about imperfections in their perfectly devices:

But Nintendo’s response, per its troubleshooting page for the device in the UK, is that this is totally fine. It reads:

“Small numbers of stuck or dead pixels are a characteristic of LCD screens. These are normal and should not be considered a defect.”

Gizmodo points out that a few dead pixels here and there on an LCD screen is far from unusual, but as manufacturing processes have improved, that’s not as common.

It’s also worth noting that Nintendo had a similar problem with its DS handheld devices in the early 2000s, but after consumers pushed back, the company eventually said it would offer to fix dead pixels.

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