Nintendo Updates User Agreement: Violation May Result in Switch Being Bricked

Nintendo has recently tightened its user agreement, introducing stricter terms and conditions aimed at curbing unauthorized activities such as hacking Switch consoles and using emulators. These updates, which came into effect on May 7, apply to all existing and new Nintendo Account users. As reported by Game File, players have received emails notifying them of the updated Nintendo Account Agreement and Privacy Policy, with approximately 100 modifications from the previous version.

Before May 6, the agreement prohibited actions like leasing, renting, sublicensing, publishing, copying, modifying, adapting, translating, reverse engineering, decompiling, or disassembling any part of the Nintendo Account Services without Nintendo's written consent or unless permitted by law. The new U.S. version has significantly expanded this section:

"Without limitation, you agree that you may not (a) publish, copy, modify, reverse engineer, lease, rent, decompile, disassemble, distribute, offer for sale, or create derivative works of any portion of the Nintendo Account Services; (b) bypass, modify, decrypt, defeat, tamper with, or otherwise circumvent any of the functions or protections of the Nintendo Account Services, including through the use of any hardware or software that would cause the Nintendo Account Services to operate other than in accordance with its documentation and intended use; (c) obtain, install or use any unauthorized copies of Nintendo Account Services; or (d) exploit the Nintendo Account Services in any manner other than to use them in accordance with the applicable documentation and intended use, in each case, without Nintendo’s written consent or express authorization, or unless otherwise expressly permitted by applicable law. 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."

In the UK, the terms differ slightly, as noted by Nintendo Life. Users agree that:

"Any Digital Products registered to your Nintendo Account and any updates of such Digital Products are licensed only for personal and non-commercial use on a User Device. Digital Products must not be used for any other purpose. In particular, without NOE's written consent, you must neither lease nor rent Digital Products nor sublicense, publish, copy, modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble any portion of Digital Products other than as expressly permitted by applicable law. Such unauthorised use of a Digital Product may result in the Digital Product becoming unusable."

While the term "unusable" remains undefined by Nintendo, it hints at the potential for the company to "brick" a console if it detects rule violations. Additionally, changes to the privacy policy now allow Nintendo to monitor Switch users' online chats to ensure a safe and family-friendly environment and to detect breaches of the agreement.

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These changes may be a response to recent piracy issues and the upcoming launch of the eagerly awaited Nintendo Switch 2, scheduled for June 5. Pre-orders for the Nintendo Switch 2 began on April 24, with the console priced at $449.99. Due to overwhelming demand, Nintendo has warned U.S. customers who pre-ordered through the My Nintendo Store that release date delivery is not guaranteed. For more details, check out IGN's Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order guide.