Nintendo is cracking down on mods and emulators with its new user agreement, telling players it reserves the right to brick their consoles in response. It’s far from the first step the company has taken against modified consoles and software, but it is some of the most direct it has been with consumers on this front. Fans may want to be careful with modded Switches or other Nintendo consoles, now that there’s the risk of permanently losing access to them.
Plenty of businesses and individuals alike have suffered The Big N’s wrath for mods and emulators. Just last year, Nintendo sued a Switch modding company, citing piracy concerns. With the release of the Switch 2 fast approaching, it seems Nintendo is being extra careful about ensuring nobody takes advantage of its intellectual property, whether that’s software or hardware.
In an update to its EULA spotted by Game File, Nintendo has notified gamers that it may render Nintendo Online accounts and devices «permanently unusable in whole or in part» for a wide swath of actions. This includes modifying hardware to operate in any manner not in line with its intended use and copying or reverse engineering Nintendo software. That second part means players could risk bricking their consoles for extracting ROMs. The move may not be a huge surprise, as Nintendo sued the creators of a popular Switch emulator in 2024, but the threat of rendering hardware unusable is a big move on Nintendo’s part.
Nintendo Can Render Consoles Unusable for Breaking Its User Agreement
Nintendo is infamously anti-emulator, though most of its past actions against it have come in the form of lawsuits or DMCA strikes. With this latest policy, it could more easily target individuals, not just companies or popular websites, and the response is a fairly strong one. A banned account or bricked console is no joke when the $450 Switch 2 could get more expensive in the future. As harmless as extracting a ROM or using a modded Switch may seem, gamers could be out several hundred dollars for it now.
It’s unclear how active Nintendo will be in enforcing the updated EULA, but the company does have a reputation for not taking kindly to what it considers «piracy.» Shutting down a Switch or Wii U isn’t the most extreme punishment one could theoretically face for this kind of behavior, though. In December 2024, someone selling hacked Pokemon Sun saves was arrested in Japan, potentially facing years in prison. In either case, playing pirated games and modding hardware is not worth the risk with Nintendo cracking down.
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