Nintendo won't let us rest – after the outcry about the rising prices, the next hammer follows: Nintendo will simply take your Switch 2 away again if you make the slightest modifications.
Nintendo is cracking down on mods and emulators with its new user agreement, informing players that it reserves the right to lock their consoles in response.
Everyone Had Mod Chips
In the past, it was not uncommon to modify consoles. Many users of mod chips do this in order to play stolen games. But there is also the other side: players who use them to secure their games and others who are interested in so-called "homebrew". These are unlicensed games or software that are distributed via this medium for many reasons.
These don't matter to Nintendo, as they have now announced that they can "brick" your consoles. In this case, bricking means that Nintendo will "destroy" your console so that it becomes unusable. At the moment it's not clear exactly how Nintendo intends to do this, but it's definitely another blow to the general community.
Nintendo vs. Emulation
Nintendo is known for taking very strict action against emulation, especially when it comes to its own games. Since the early 2000s, the company has been taking legal action against websites that offer ROMs (game files) of their classic games for download. In 2018, Nintendo made particularly big headlines when they sued two of the biggest sites – LoveROMs and LoveRETRO – and demanded millions. The sites were subsequently taken offline. When two large emulators, Yuzu and Ryujinx, were then offered for download with the Switch, Nintendo finally blew a gasket. By filing lawsuits, they managed to get both to disappear from the scene.
Double Standards?
This is all rather ironic, because the retro games that can be played with the Nintendo Switch Online subscription are only emulated. And it's pretty bad: many players complain about the horrible controls and performance losses, especially with N64 games. This could be another reason why Nintendo is cracking down on ROMs: because that's how you can be lured into the subscription.
How Strictly Will The EULA Be Enforced?
We can't yet know how Nintendo will recognize that your console is modded and how strict they will be against it. However, looking at how Nintendo has taken legal action against emulators and ROM sites, things could get uncomfortable for modders. Some players say that they are now not connecting their console to the internet in protest. But Nintendo has also thought of this: with the new digital cartridges you have to download your games, because the cards only contain a download key. It looks like Nintendo is really upsetting the community at the moment because you rarely see so many anti-consumer practices.
If you want to learn more about the anger of gamers against Nintendo, you can read more here.
Will you be buying a Switch 2? And would you have planned to modify it?