Have you seen all of those R4 knockoffs floating around on the TikTok shop for your Nintendo Switch? If you’ve thought about buying one, make sure you don’t take your Switch online. Otherwise, there’s a good chance that Nintendo could officially “brick” your system. Not just in the “oh, you can’t go online” kind of way, either. One of the latest Switch Nintendo Account User Agreements and Nintendo Privacy Policies emailed plenty of new changes, but those who like to tinker should think twice.
Nintendo Reserves the Right to Brick Your Switch if You Decide To Tamper With Pirated Software, so Be Careful
Originally discovered by GameFile and Stephen Totilo, the latest Nintendo Account User Agreement and Nintendo Privacy Policy email had some pretty harsh warnings for Switch users who are considering tampering with their software. Primarily, those who are messing with illegally downloaded software, homebrew, or anything in between. This likely includes those R4 Cards that are floating around on the web, as well.
Listed in the email, some significant changes are in store for US Switch customers. As stated in the aforementioned email:
“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 [Switch] 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 unauthorised 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 authorisation, 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 [Switch] permanently unusable in whole or in part.”
So What Exactly Does All Of This Mean For Typical Users?
That’s an awful lot of words, isn’t it? Long story short? Don’t mess around with homebrew, mod chips, or any other form of pirating if you don’t want your Switch to turn into a glorified paperweight. As someone who owns a V1 Switch and knows what they’re, technically, capable of, I plan on keeping that bad boy as clean as it can get. I’ve had my Switch since launch, and I don’t want to go messing around with it now. Especially knowing that this could fundamentally destroy my current Nintendo Account with all of my legitimately purchased games.
A move like this from Nintendo isn’t surprising. They’re incredibly cautious about other companies using anything that remotely looks like any of their IP. So, why would they want people to be messing around with homebrew? I can’t tell you what to do, but if you cherish your Switch like I do? Just don’t bother with this kind of stuff. Keep it clean, keep it vanilla, and wait for sales on your favorite games. With the Switch 2 right around the corner? I don’t think any of us wants to lose access to our Nintendo Accounts.
The post With the Rise of R4 Cards and Software Piracy, Nintendo Can Now ”Brick” Switch Systems if They Detect Any Naughty Business appeared first on VICE.
