Recently Nintendo began e-mailing an amended User Agreement policy. The wording of one part of the changes is concerning for fans that may want to use their Nintendo Switch 2 in “not so approved” manners. It is your hardware after all, right? Well, maybe not.
The Devil is in the Details
Most companies have figured out that end users are not going to read that long user agreement, terms of service, whatever they wish to call it. Most people are not going to read it all. Even today with all of the options available to browse that Great Wall of China size wall of text quickly and easily, people are not going to read it.
Over on Dexerto.com you can find the full updated User Agreement. The part to focus on is this –
You acknowledge that if you fail to comply with the foregoing restrictions Nintendo may render the Nintendo Account Services and/or the applicable Nintendo device permanently unusable in whole or in part.”
This is concerning wording. In the past, console companies, and even software publishers, used the threat of removing access to online features to combat users by modding their consoles or games.
This is the first time that I am aware that a company has put something like this in a hardware end user agreement. I am not sure; I am one of those that doesn’t read those things.
The team over at IGN.com believe it means bricking your console, making it a paperweight if you will.
Why and For What Reason
I am not going to beat around the bush here. This is Nintendo, they are doing this to obviously combat piracy. Plain and simple. They are wanting to protect their investment in the Nintendo Switch 2.
While not everyone wanting to mod their console is a hacker wanting to play illegally obtained copies of games, for the most part, they aren’t programmers making new games either.
It is a fine line to walk, how hard should a company like Nintendo fight these modding options? Nintendo has certainly put in more effort than most companies to stop it.
In the days of the NES and SNES Nintendo went after mail order companies selling copying devices. Not so much the customers of such devices. As time went on, technology advanced, they expanded their scope accordingly. IGN covered a January 2025 arrest of a Nintendo Switch modder, in Japan.
Nintendo is still in pursuit of stopping Palworld due to similarities with their own Pokemon franchise.
What do you think of all this legal action by Nintendo? Are they just protecting their brands and hardware or are they going too far? Let me know in the comments below.