Nintendo Updates User Agreement: Violators Risk Switch Being Bricked

Nintendo has recently updated its user agreement, implementing stricter policies against players who engage in activities such as hacking their Switch console, using emulators, or any other form of "unauthorized use." As reported by Game File, emails have been sent to users informing them of the updates to the "Nintendo Account Agreement and the Nintendo Account Privacy Policy," effective as of May 7. These new terms supersede all prior versions and apply to both existing and new Nintendo Account users. According to the report, the revised agreement contains approximately 100 changes from the previous version.

Prior to May 6, the user agreement stipulated that users were not permitted to "lease, rent, sublicense, publish, copy, modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble all or any portion of the Nintendo Account Services without Nintendo's written consent, or unless otherwise expressly permitted by applicable law."

However, the updated terms in the U.S. have expanded this section significantly, now stating:

"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, as highlighted by Nintendo Life, the terms differ slightly, with users agreeing to:

"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."

Although Nintendo has not specified what "unusable" entails, the language implies that the company may have the authority to "brick" your console if it detects a violation of its rules. Additionally, changes to the privacy policy now emphasize that Nintendo may monitor Switch users' online chats "in order to support a safe and family-friendly online environment and to detect violations of the Nintendo Account Agreement and other harmful or illegal interactions."

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These updates likely stem from Nintendo's recent challenges with piracy and coincide with the upcoming launch of the highly anticipated Nintendo Switch 2, set to be released on June 5.

Pre-orders for the Nintendo Switch 2 opened on April 24, maintaining a price of $449.99, and were met with overwhelming demand. Nintendo has also cautioned U.S. customers who pre-ordered through the My Nintendo Store that delivery on the release date is not guaranteed due to high demand. For more information, check out IGN's Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order guide.