Nintendo sued over Wii wrist straps

[UPDATE] Publisher accused of selling a product that was "ineffective for its intended use"; Nintendo calls suit "completely without merit."

Last week Nintendo announced a voluntary replacement program for the Wii Remote's wrist strap, which had been breaking at inopportune times for some customers and resulting in collateral damage. Shortly after the system launched in North America on November 19, reports popped up of broken cords, followed quickly by flying controllers crashing into high-priced electronics, living room furniture, and the occasional innocent bystander. While Nintendo acknowledged the Wii strap's problem and apparently addressed it, the company might not have done so in time.

On December 6, a Wii purchaser in Austin, Texas filed a suit against Nintendo, alleging the publisher of violating the Washington Consumer Protection Act (Nintendo is based in the state of Washington, where the suit was filed) by engaging in "unfair or deceptive practices" by telling consumers that the wrist strap was to prevent the controller from flying out of a user's hand during use, and then providing a strap that was "ineffective for its intended use." The suit also claims that the Wii Remote strap's problems constitute a breach of warranty, and seeks to become a class-action suit in which anyone who has purchased a Wii would be able to join.

"As a result of the defective nature of the wrist strap on the Wii remote, plaintiff's wrist strap broke on his remote causing damage to the Wii product plaintiff purchased," the suit reads. "The controller is an essential component of any video game console, and so [the] plaintiff is unable to use the Nintendo Wii for its intended purposes as a result of the broken wrist band. Accordingly, it renders the Wii console, which retails in the United States for $250, useless."

The Wii only comes packed with a single controller, but additional Wii Remotes can be purchased for $40 each.

One of the plaintiff's lawyers told GameSpot that Nintendo's replacement program for the wrist straps will not cause them to drop the suit. As for whether purchasers of new Wii systems that come with thicker wrist straps for the Wii Remotes would be eligible to join the suit, he said it would depend in part on whether the new straps adequately address the problem.

In his original filing, the plaintiff demands Nintendo cease what he sees as its unfair and deceptive practices, to refund or replace the strap with one that works as intended, reimburse him for legal expenses, and "such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper."

[UPDATE] A Nintendo representative passed along the company's official position on the matter: "We believe the lawsuit to be completely without merit. Nintendo has a long tradition of delivering high-quality products and excellent customer service, and we take all reports from our customers seriously. At the time we became aware of the lawsuit, we had already taken appropriate steps to reinforce with consumers the proper use of the Wii Remote and had made stronger replacement wrist straps available. This suit has had no effect on those efforts."

1034 Comments

  • chronobyte

    Posted Jan 10, 2007 10:24 am PT

    This just goes to show that no amount of tech advancement can save people from their stupidity.

  • Myth999

    Posted Jan 8, 2007 8:10 am PT

    Guess people are THAT dumb to throw their remote at their tvs lol

  • atomicrooster1

    Posted Jan 8, 2007 7:37 am PT

    I guess people will do anything for money these days. sad really.

  • Ra-Devil

    Posted Jan 7, 2007 9:48 pm PT

    okay people, just because YOU can comprehend not to throw the wiimote doesn't mean that 5 years old can... shame on this lawyer for assisting a 5 year old, I mean, I didn't even know he could do that. The throwing motion represented on the screen doesn't tell you to let go in the middle of the throwing motion.

    Oh, and just because you're having a temper tantrum and you threw the wiimote at the TV doesn't mean you're legible for a lawsuit either. Can anyone else hear echoes of that McDonnald's lawsuit?

  • pdog2319

    Posted Jan 7, 2007 9:03 pm PT

    im with mariokartguy, can these people really think that they are literally supposed to throw the Wii-mote....come on! i mean; i dont even use the strap.

  • mariokartguy

    Posted Jan 7, 2007 2:58 pm PT

    I have a fun idea! HOLD ON to the controller! =D

  • mattjr05

    Posted Jan 7, 2007 11:18 am PT

    man, people are so stupid! why would you sue nintendo over something so childish. dumb people just want money out of a great company.

  • hokies1313

    Posted Jan 7, 2007 6:52 am PT

    Uh...I thought you were suppose to hold on to the controller....so uh.......how did it fly out of his hand if he was holding it? o_O

    If you're just strapping the remote to your wrist and not holding on to it then it's your own dang fault it flew out o_O

  • seth1689

    Posted Jan 7, 2007 6:26 am PT

    ppl r messed up the straps r fine its just they dont kno how to play right and go crazy and cant control themselves and ruin everything for ppl who can whoever is sueing them go f urself

  • strawberryheart

    Posted Jan 6, 2007 8:26 pm PT

    I whert anyone who sues over this crap. I should sue Nintendo for making me addictied to all of there games and making my wrists hurt so bad I can`t move`em. "Stupid people do stupid things."

  • ninga59

    Posted Jan 6, 2007 6:52 pm PT

    hey if you play to hard and you let go of your wii mote its your own fault...thats why there is a off buttion

  • Austin-Pray

    Posted Jan 6, 2007 6:35 pm PT

    i sued nintendo because i was playing zelda and i turned around and threw my wiimote at my brother and killed him. i thought he was an enemy and all. god rest his soul...my $16.52 is coming in the mail next tuesday.

  • chrisgopher

    Posted Jan 6, 2007 1:40 pm PT

    There are just alot of stupid people in this world who will sue someone for any reason.

  • greystone227

    Posted Jan 6, 2007 8:49 am PT

    First of all, if you swing the controller so hard that you lose control of it and you break your wrist strap, it's your freaking fault for swinging it so hard. I've achieved pro level in just about all of the Wii Sports games (but only 700 in boxing), and have played 25 hours of Zelda. Never once have I lost the grip on my controller, and never once have I ever saw the need to swing it extremely hard. And Nintendo, knowing that it was probably the people's faults anyway that they broke their wrist strap, still was kind enough to offer stronger replacement straps to anyone that asks. This lawsuit is freaking rediculous.

  • umbracascade

    Posted Jan 6, 2007 6:24 am PT

    i blame lawyers. Stupid people are a given, einstein knew that only two things were forever, the universe and human stupidity and he wasn't even sure about the universe! But it's the lawyer's fault for taking the case. Stupid people are stupid, lawyers (those that are greedy enough to take these cases)are worse because they're evil.

  • SpareJesus

    Posted Jan 6, 2007 3:39 am PT

    "I sued Taco Bell, 'cause I ate half a million Chaloopahs, and I got fat!"

    "I sued Panasonic, they never said I shouldn't use their microwave to dry off my cat."

    "I sued Earthlink, 'cause I called 'em up, they had the nerve to put me on hold!"

    "I sued Home Depot, 'cause they sold me a hammer, which they knew I might drop on my toes!"

    ..Man, Weird Al was right when it came to that song. And I'm not aware of any problems in the UK to do with broken wrist-straps just yet. Seems like it's just the stupid American individuals having a problem.

    Good job to those millions of you that have common sense.

  • runejedi

    Posted Jan 6, 2007 12:14 am PT

    it has plaenty of merit , merit 2 show that losers will do anything 4 a quick buck!
    ps if if it wins it will only get a new tv anyways (what a loser). pps i bought a wiimote im gonna go join the loser parade (not) ((NOT)) ha ha that would be so fun ta loser parade outside a nintendo office with there little sings and banners and crap lol ahahahahahahahahah! ya would just walk and hey losers whats going on planning to sue colt tommorow cause ya shot ya self in ta foot? (losers)

  • GANGSTA287

    Posted Jan 5, 2007 9:43 pm PT

    I apologize to the Japanese for the loopholes democrats have created in the American Law System...

  • jimboboklashaur

    Posted Jan 5, 2007 9:20 pm PT

    what's the number one reason i hate living in america, you ask?

    people like mr. "hey, i'm a moron, and i messed up some stuff and now my mom is gonna be really pissed, i had better sue nintendo right away and blame them for me being a moron!"

  • Hellraiser3899

    Posted Jan 5, 2007 9:08 pm PT

    You can't sue a company over people's stupidity...

  • Wolverine77

    Posted Jan 5, 2007 6:41 pm PT

    this is like spilling your coffee and blaming mc donalds for making the coffee hot. quit trying to cash in on being clumsy people!

  • Kfoss

    Posted Jan 5, 2007 6:20 pm PT

    why do you need a wrist strap in the first place? i mean its a controller in your hand...you not suppose to whip it around like a SPAZ...WOOOOOOOOOO HA! (controller flys off) (WHAM) OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDD AHHAHAH OHHH ESHHHHHHAAA i got Wii-Ced in my eye!!! DUUUDDE YOU TOTALY SUCK! SUUUUUUUUHHA AHHH! MANNN!

  • sieg6529

    Posted Jan 5, 2007 1:08 pm PT

    What a litigious society we live in. Seriously, to what the hell kind of abuse were the subjecting the Wiimote?

  • cwgr8621

    Posted Jan 5, 2007 10:56 am PT

    I've tripped up the stairs many times before. I hit myself in the face with my own knee once. I'm all around clumsy in real life. if you put a controller in my hands, it won't slip, drop, or go flying into the wall. i barely use or need my wrist strap and I think a real gamer would be able to hold a controller in their hands even in the middle of a hurricane. they just decided to copy off of interlink and waste a whole lot of time

  • nappan

    Posted Jan 5, 2007 6:17 am PT

    Get over yourselves fanboys. The way 90% of the posters here talk, you'd think they owned majority stock in Nintendo. Who. Cares.

  • bamf03

    Posted Jan 5, 2007 12:17 am PT

    I'm with the rest of ya about the lawsuit being wrong but if this was a lawsuit against a Sony product with the same reasons, you lot would be trashing Sony right now and saying they deserve it for making dodgy products.

  • greg_g33

    Posted Jan 4, 2007 9:48 pm PT

    i acidentally knocked over a glass of milk while swinging in Wii Tennis, i'm not gonna lie, i felt pretty stupid.

    but i'm not gonna cry over spilled milk. (literally)

    americans ftl.

  • blades144

    Posted Jan 4, 2007 12:36 pm PT

    Missing links, every one of these Geico Cave Men! These idiots are distracted by shiny objects. I hope their lawsuit gets them banned from online play! Heaven knows we don't want to hurt their feelings online and have them sue us when you totally SPANK the retards!!!

  • nhlkoho

    Posted Jan 4, 2007 8:29 am PT

    "Dr_Feelgood
    When you go jogging with your MP3 player, do you let it swing by the strap or do you hold on to it???

    When you use a hammer, do you hold on to it or swing it from your wrist???

    Do drum sticks have wrist straps???"

    unfortunately by saying this, i think you gave another idiot some ideas to sue for. next you'll hear of a drummer suing drum makers because the sticks flew out of their hand and broke something. I live in America and I have to agree with the person below who said that 90% of Americans are just plain stupid.

  • henry_the_horse

    Posted Jan 3, 2007 8:51 pm PT

    people that swing the wii mote that hard are morons. you can simply shake the controller only inches back and forth to make it do what you want... which then makes you think why the wii's motion controls are so important... wait they aren't, they're just a gimmick. how many times can you swing a controller the same way before it gets old?

  • blueflamedino

    Posted Jan 3, 2007 6:47 pm PT

    wait, we are not suppose to swing the wii mote around like a nunchuku with the nunhuck attackment? that statement probably can be the next lawsuit, I mean i didn't read the manual and i swung my remotes like nunchuckus for no reason

  • JediJon04

    Posted Jan 3, 2007 6:43 pm PT

    It seems to me all these people are just going out of their way to try and get some free money. Any normal person playing it like it's supposed to be played (not throwing your arms and letting go of the Wiimote) will find the strap that was shipped is fine. I've played just about all the Wii games so far and never even came close to letting the controller fly out of my hand. This whole suit is bogus. Go Nintendo.

  • Poodishplayer

    Posted Jan 3, 2007 4:58 pm PT

    lol, i think i might need a wrist band for my mouse. Then i can purposely break it and sue someone for damage, and endangering others from a flying mouse. lame. The wiimote is just like other controllers, except it has motion sensing. If Nintendo is sued for their controllers flying, why arent t.v. companies sued for not having straps on t.v. remotes? After all, the stuff on the t.v. seems alot more real to me than a video game, and i am likely to go crazy watching terminator than playing a game with a bunch of bunnies or men in red hats!

  • frogiggy323

    Posted Jan 3, 2007 4:01 pm PT

    I say it's time for the Wii to introduce the signature helmate. Works for the people that want to be safe and also for the retards who can't hold a freking controller to begin with.

  • drew38930

    Posted Jan 3, 2007 2:17 pm PT

    wow. I swear people go around looking for things to sue people for. and, seriously, if you are playing sanely then the strap shouldn't break in the first place

  • vernon01256

    Posted Jan 3, 2007 11:40 am PT

    i got an idea for nintendo to replace the wii remotes and change the strap instead of making it stronger by putting a elastic band on for the wrist i mean thats smarter. p,s how can i tell nintendo

  • WingHo

    Posted Jan 3, 2007 7:16 am PT

    Wow...what kind of retard would throw their Wii remote? You only have to swing it around and move it, not fricking throw it at your widescreen/window/loved ones. It's your own problem if you break something of yours due to your own stupidity, so don't go around bothering other people about it.

  • t-roland

    Posted Jan 2, 2007 11:10 pm PT

    What's with all the lawsuits?

  • Bathyj

    Posted Jan 2, 2007 6:14 pm PT

    I took my straps off anyway. My hand comes with 4 fingers and an opposible thumb which seems to be serving me quite well in the task of gripping things. Anything else. Do I need to teach anyone how to tie their shoes so they dont trip on the laces and have to sue Nike?

  • Kuzukaze

    Posted Jan 2, 2007 1:08 pm PT

    "only in America could this happen"

    yes, I sadly agree with this. I'm American and all, but is it me, or do 90% (at least) of Americans seem ...oh what's the word...the opposite of smart?

  • MACMALLEON

    Posted Jan 2, 2007 12:28 pm PT

    Wow! I like how everyone is blaming Nintendo for these problems. I have had no problem, and no intentions for replacing my strap. Every time I play with someone I have to remind them that there is no need to play like a CRAZY MONKEY! Just a simple flick of the wrist will do!

  • sonicare

    Posted Jan 2, 2007 11:20 am PT

    Well, the wrist strap was ineffective for its intended use. However, they should simply have to pay the guy for a new wii remote and replace whatever was damaged. That's it. None of this millions of dollars in punitive or emotional damages crap.

  • Cyborg_Hand

    Posted Jan 2, 2007 7:32 am PT

    only in America could this happen

  • Bathyj

    Posted Jan 2, 2007 6:21 am PT

    I'm sueing Nintendo. Wii-sports has made my bicepts really big and now my shirts wont fit me.

  • HyperMetaDragon

    Posted Jan 1, 2007 9:01 pm PT

    There's nothing wrong with small wrist straps. He just wants money.

  • tdf64

    Posted Jan 1, 2007 12:12 pm PT

    i just got my wii and my wrist strap works just fine ... because i dont use it as much but when i do i dont do exeggerated movement. 4 the dumbo sueing nintendo, i would give u an award 4 world's dumb and dumber of the year

  • neerajkumar_4

    Posted Jan 1, 2007 10:15 am PT

    too much... i agree with u guys..!

  • redrabbit

    Posted Jan 1, 2007 3:22 am PT

    This is just rediculous. The wrist strap only breaks when the player is doing 'Over Exagurated' movements with the Wii-Remote. To sue Nintendo for this is just a cry for attention (and cash). And for the lawer to come out with the fact that now, the Wii Console is now unusable is also unbeleivable. Do you swing the Wii remote when playing NFS: Carbon or Excite Truck? No you don't. All I can say to the plaintiff is, "Get a grip and grow up". As previously mentioned by Dr_Feelgood. Wrist straps are designed to protect the device from falling if accidently let go, not as primary support for the product.

  • Dr_Feelgood

    Posted Dec 31, 2006 10:39 pm PT

    When you go jogging with your MP3 player, do you let it swing by the strap or do you hold on to it???

    When you use a hammer, do you hold on to it or swing it from your wrist???

    Do drum sticks have wrist straps???

    Wrist straps are designed to insure that if you lose your grip, the object in question does not go flying. They are not designed to be used as primary means of support and Nintendo was not required to even produce them. Now, considering the nature of the use of the product, Nintendo went out of their way to remind gamers that the wrist strap was not to be used to support the controller, and even offered a much more durable one just to ensure maximum product safety.

    This inbred moron is going to go home peniless.

  • aeternitas88

    Posted Dec 31, 2006 7:57 pm PT

    This guy is just greedy, and what business do these people have swinging the controller hard enough to break a TV. Sounds like poor judgement on their part.

    Nintendo has done all that fit should to address this problem, anything else they do is above and beyond.

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