Nintendo Revises User Agreement, And If You Break It, Nintendo Reserves The Right to Brick Your Switch

Nintendo has tightened its idiosyncratic agreement, revising the presumption and conditions with a tougher stance connected players who hack their Switch console, tally emulators, oregon immoderate different specified "unauthorized use."

As spotted by Game File, emails person gone retired to players confirming the institution has "updated the Nintendo Account Agreement and the Nintendo Account Privacy Policy," the caller rules present superseding each erstwhile versions and applying to each existing and caller Nintendo Account users arsenic of May 7. According to Game File's report, there's been astir 100 changes betwixt the existing statement and the revised one.

Until May 6, players agreed that they "are not allowed to lease, rent, sublicense, publish, copy, modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile oregon disassemble each oregon immoderate information of the Nintendo Account Services without Nintendo's written consent, oregon unless different expressly permitted by applicable law."

Now, however, that conception has been importantly lengthened successful the U.S., and present reads:

"Without limitation, you hold that you whitethorn not (a) publish, copy, modify, reverse engineer, lease, rent, decompile, disassemble, distribute, connection for sale, oregon make derivative works of immoderate information of the Nintendo Account Services; (b) bypass, modify, decrypt, defeat, tamper with, oregon different circumvent immoderate of the functions oregon protections of the Nintendo Account Services, including done the usage of immoderate hardware oregon bundle that would origin the Nintendo Account Services to run different than successful accordance with its documentation and intended use; (c) obtain, instal oregon usage immoderate unauthorized copies of Nintendo Account Services; oregon (d) exploit the Nintendo Account Services successful immoderate mode different than to usage them successful accordance with the applicable documentation and intended use, successful each case, without Nintendo’s written consent oregon explicit authorization, oregon unless different expressly permitted by applicable law. You admit that if you neglect to comply with the foregoing restrictions Nintendo whitethorn render the Nintendo Account Services and/or the applicable Nintendo instrumentality permanently unusable successful full oregon successful part."

As pointed retired by Nintendo Life, this is antithetic again successful the UK, with players agreeing that:

"Any Digital Products registered to your Nintendo Account and immoderate updates of specified Digital Products are licensed lone for idiosyncratic and non-commercial usage connected a User Device. Digital Products indispensable not beryllium utilized for immoderate different purpose. In particular, without NOE's written consent, you indispensable neither lease nor rent Digital Products nor sublicense, publish, copy, modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile oregon disassemble immoderate information of Digital Products different than arsenic expressly permitted by applicable law. Such unauthorised usage of a Digital Product whitethorn effect successful the Digital Product becoming unusable."

While Nintendo hasn't clarified what "unusable" means, exactly, the wording suggests Nintendo present reserves the close to "brick" your console if it thinks you've breached its rules. Changes to the privateness argumentation present besides accent that Nintendo whitethorn perceive to Switch users' online chats "in bid to enactment a harmless and family-friendly online situation and to observe violations of the Nintendo Account Agreement and different harmful oregon amerciable interactions."

The changes apt bespeak immoderate of Nintendo's caller frustrations, specified arsenic its high-profile piracy cases, arsenic good arsenic adjacent month's motorboat of the highly-anticipated Nintendo Switch 2, which is acceptable to debut connected June 5.

Nintendo Switch 2 pre-orders went unrecorded connected April 24, with the terms inactive fixed astatine $449.99 — and they went astir arsenic good arsenic you'd expect. Meanwhile, Nintendo has issued a informing to U.S. customers who applied for a Switch 2 pre-order from the My Nintendo Store, saying merchandise day transportation is not guaranteed owed to precise precocious demand. Check retired IGN's Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order usher for more.

Vikki Blake is simply a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She's besides a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her astatine BlueSky.