Nintendo has updated its User Agreement to include a warning about reflashing Switch and Switch 2 consoles with pirated copies of games, warning that it could completely disable them, potentially rendering them useless even offline.
Nintendo has updated its User Agreement to include a warning about reflashing Switch and Switch 2 consoles with pirated copies of games, warning that it could completely disable them, potentially rendering them useless even offline.
The May 2025 EULA update adds new language regarding specific ways users can use «Nintendo Account Services» on the console — a term that encompasses the use of «video games and additional content,» Ars Technica reports.
According to the new agreement, any unlicensed use of the system without Nintendo’s permission may result in the company «rendering the Nintendo Account Services and/or the relevant Nintendo device wholly or partially unusable».
This wording applies to both the current Switch console and the upcoming Switch 2, which Nintendo fully unveiled early last month.
Nintendo has also added new language that reserves the right to «suspend your access to any or all Nintendo Account Services at our sole discretion and without prior notice to you.» Such suspension may occur even before a breach of the EULA occurs if Nintendo has «reasonable grounds to believe that such breach… will occur, or if we reasonably believe it is necessary for legal, technical, or business reasons, such as to prevent harm to other users or the Nintendo Account Services.»
First on the list is pirated games: the EULA now specifically mentions «obtaining, installing, or using any unauthorized copies of the Nintendo Account Services.» This wording likely applies to users with cracked console software and those using any number of third-party flash cards to access pirated games.
Additionally, the EULA also restricts a wide range of almost synonymous verbs related to hacking your own console for potential non-piracy uses. This includes restricting the right to «modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble all or any part of the Nintendo Account Services…» as well as the ability to «circumvent, modify, decrypt, disable, interfere with or otherwise circumvent any features or security measures of the Nintendo Account Services, including through the use of any hardware or software.»
Nintendo has long used systems to detect reflashed consoles with internet access, and blocks them at the device level to stop them from accessing any of Nintendo’s online services. The new EULA wording suggests that Nintendo is preparing the ability to completely disable Switch devices that violate the usage agreement, even for offline use.
It’s currently unclear what technical means Nintendo will use to enforce this new final punishment for hacked Switches, and whether users will be able to restore functionality to any remotely locked consoles.
Nintendo is known for its fanatical persistence in defending its copyrights in court — gamers were previously surprised that it did not immediately start suing Pocketpair, the studio that released the game Palworld.
Recall that while a Japanese company is studying the possibilities of turning high-tech gadgets into a pile of scrap metal, scientists have recorded the temporary transformation of lead into gold during ion collisions at the Large Hadron Collider.
