Joycons drifting

Joycons just do that. It’s practically known to be a fundamental design “feature” at this point. I’ve went through three different pairs since launch week. I used to work at a repairs shop & this was a constant problem. You’ll also notice, if you do a little sleuthing around, that it’s by far the most common technical issue asked about on this subreddit. There’s nothing you can do. They’re just built like shit. They’re by far the most prone-to-drifting controller I’ve ever experienced in my life.

The most you can do is take some compressed air and spray it heavily into the rubber flap under the control sticks, and then recalibrate them. This sometimes does the job. Temporarily, at least. They’ll invariably start to act up again after a week or two. Doesn’t matter how well you take care of them. Doesn’t matter how clean the general environment they sit in is. Doesn’t matter how gently you use them.

You’ve experienced this yourself it seems, since you mentioned already having done this before. My recommendation is to just sort of give up, and always use the Pro Controller. In handheld mode, all you can really do is just play games that aren’t significantly hindered by random drifting. Stuff like Civilization VI.

/r/NintendoSwitch Thread