Dbrand’s Killswitch case for the Swap 2 is light-weight, blends in properly with the console, and feels good in your fingers. There’s only one drawback: it interferes with the Pleasure-Con magnets and might make the transportable {hardware} straightforward to drop in the event you’re not holding on appropriately, which, to be fairly trustworthy, many people typically aren’t!
The Swap 2 accent producer’s subreddit has been filling up with customers sharing video clips of precisely this drawback. A part of a $60 bundle that features an open face dock so followers can play in TV mode with out eradicating the case (which can be having some points), the primary offender are the plastic grips that hug the brand new Pleasure-Con. As Dbrand itself has defined following the entire buyer complaints, there’s a small lip on the within fringe of the Pleasure-Con case that’s meant to maintain it from simply sliding out. However that lip additionally fills in an air hole engineered into the Swap 2 between the display screen and the Pleasure-Con to assist with the magnetic locking mechanism.
Dbrand despatched me the Killswitch case at launch and I’ve been testing it together with a bunch of different equipment. Once I began to marvel why I by no means encountered this challenge earlier than, I noticed it’s as a result of I didn’t have my Pleasure-Con absolutely of their instances so the lip was by no means filling that air hole. The end result was that the Pleasure-Con by no means popped out whereas I used to be holding the console. As an alternative, the issue I encountered was that the Pleasure-Con instances simply popped off if I moved my fingers laterally in any respect.
Dbrand really brings up that actual drawback in a protracted Reddit put up on June 22 defending the Killswitch case for the Swap 2. It mentions the sliding challenge with a “totally different model’s NS2 case,” which on this case is Genki’s Assault Vector. I’ve been testing that package as properly and have had that exact challenge. So it’s a design problem that’s not distinctive to Dbrand, nevertheless it’s additionally clear from the problems persons are experiencing that it’s one Dbrand hasn’t adequately solved both but.
After ensuring my Pleasure-Con had been firmly locked into my Killswitch case, I did some testing right now and positive sufficient the Pleasure-Con saved coming out, leaving the remainder of the console to plunge to its doom. Dbrand claims, in its protection, that that is solely a difficulty for individuals holding their Swap 2 incorrect. The corporate claims all three of the next standards must be met for the Killswitch case to fail:
- You’re particularly holding onto the console from solely the Pleasure-Cons, in such a approach that your fingers are making no supportive contact with the primary console, and
- you might be holding the Swap 2 with just one hand, and
- your Swap 2 is held extra parallel to the bottom than not.
The notoriously irreverent and abrasive accent maker then went on responsible clients for consumer error, stating “no one routinely holds their Swap 2 like this.” That set off a recent firestorm within the subreddit of individuals displaying that many have actually held the Swap 2 like that, together with YouTuber LinusTechTips and Tonight Present host Jimmy Fallon. Additionally my oldest child, who walks into my house workplace flapping the Swap 2 by the Pleasure-Con with one hand not less than thrice per week regardless of my fixed threats to by no means let him play it once more if he doesn’t cease.
Dbrand maintains that solely a small variety of the over 100,000 Killswitch instances it’s manufactured are exhibiting actual issues. Its place is that whereas individuals who wish to make their Swap 2 fall off whereas utilizing the case can, most received’t expertise that below regular utilization. For people who do, Dbrand is altering the variance in dimension of the Pleasure-Con case lip to filter out overly large ones throughout the manufacturing course of beginning with July shipments. “For people who have obtained their order and are having points that they consider fall inside ‘common use,’ we’re fucking sorry,” Dbrand wrote on Reddit. Whereas the reason is sensible, the tone and lack of accountability don’t.
“Individuals purchased a case to guard harm for his or her costly product but in addition anticipated to make use of it as the unique console design supposed, and there’s some extent the place (you) have to drop the act and begin performing like adults, not kids behind a keyboard,” wrote one particular person in response. “To see the corporate not solely blame the buyer, but in addition refuse to retool their clearly faulty product, after which have the gall to ask dissatisfied clients to not use the product and pay costly return delivery charges to a totally totally different nation to be able to get a refund, erodes the belief Dbrand has gained from its neighborhood,” wrote one other.
Implying that not less than among the individuals who purchased the Killswitch case after which posted movies of the Pleasure-Con coming out on Reddit had been disingenuous clout chasers was a daring technique that doesn’t but look like paying off. It’s straightforward to see the obstacles on Dbrand’s finish. The Swap 2’s magnetic connectors are a bespoke and exactly engineered resolution to a design problem by a unique firm. Designing round that isn’t straightforward process, particularly in the event you’re racing to fabricate stock for launch in the midst of a chaotic commerce conflict with out early entry to the precise {hardware} in query.
However after testing the Killswitch on and off for a few weeks, I’m not satisfied that it’s any extra deserving of particular concerns than different equipment, particularly cheaper ones on supply from any variety of generic copycat outlets. The Killswitch doesn’t really feel so good or so premium that it’s value overlooking a key vulnerability. The rail locks for the Pleasure-Con on my older Swap OLED had been handled so roughly over time that one of many tiny screws fell out with out me even noticing and it jiggles now. So for now I’d maintain off on the Killswitch till the air-gap drawback is fastened throughout the board.
What I can suggest is Dbrand’s display screen protector. It’s hands-down one of the best available on the market because of a specialty case that makes making use of it completely with no bubbles or botched angles fully dummy proof.
Replace 6/25/2025 9:25 a.m. ET: Dbrand has pulled a 180 and is now promising “upgraded” Pleasure-Con grips to all clients at no additional price. “After studying via your suggestions, it’s fairly clear that our put up was a spectacularly horrible response to the problem at hand,” the corporate wrote in a brand new put up on Reddit. “A few of you’ve gotten expressed that opinion in a wonderfully cheap approach. Others have expressed it with literal loss of life threats.”
Dbrand introduced it’s presently exploring a brand new design that will basically clear up the Pleasure-Con detachment challenge. “With this design, every thing will stay securely hooked up, even below the stress of shaking your Pleasure-Con like a maniac, one-handed, with no extra help on the physique of the console,” it wrote. “Successfully, it might carry out like a inventory NS2.”
Retooling the gear to check that design will take time, nevertheless, and Dbrand received’t know till July 10 whether or not it’s possible to mass produce. Within the meantime, clients can have the choice of swapping their grip out for one with a fair thinner lip than the “good” inventory that Dbrand says isn’t experiencing any points.
As for followers experiencing points with not with the ability to seamlessly pull the Swap 2 out of the Killswitch dock, Dbrand means that’s by design and received’t be altering. “The console can’t be eliminated with one hand from the dock adapter,” it wrote. “That is actually only a results of us not wanting so as to add friction between the dock adapter and the OEM dock. Any extra materials that causes an interference match between the dock adapter and OEM dock may lead to misalignment or undue stress on the OEM dock.”
Dbrand continued: “By preserving it a contact free, we will guarantee correct registration of the dock adapter, no matter tolerance discrepancies in both the OEM dock or the dock adapter. We acknowledge it’s not a seamless one-handed resolution just like the OEM dock (which options springs and a plunger to help in removing), however the addition of these components to construct a extra seamless removing would additionally necessitate a ‘entrance wall’ (which, when paired with a full-body case, may trigger thermal regulation issues).”
.
