Nintendo warns it may brick Switch systems whose users “bypass, modify, decrypt, defeat, tamper with” their games and services

The Mario maker just updated its user agreements to also warn of potential service discontinuations and to acknowledge how it may monitor Switch users’ online chats.

Donkey Kong Bananza. Screenshot: Nintendo.

The email hit my inbox at 11:39 pm, not quite my favorite time for reading things that could use a magnifying glass (there are exceptions).

Subject line: “Updates to Nintendo Account User Agreement and Nintendo Privacy Policy.”

It was time for me to click some links and squint.

Good thing I looked.

Nintendo has made quite a few edits to the two main agreements it has with its customers.

Some are quite timely, seemingly in response to recent legal changes and challenges. Some of them are, let’s say, very consistent with Nintendo’s clear concerns these days.

Most of the changes—just over 100 edits, by my count—were made to the Nintendo Account User Agreement, a digital document that people click on in order to use online-connected Nintendo services. Those services include the Switch’s eShop marketplace, the Nintendo Switch Online subscription service and any digitally purchased games.

For users who don’t play games off cartridges and instead play their Marios, Zeldas and Animal Crossings via copies they pay to download, the Nintendo Account agreement covers pretty much the sum total of using the Switch.

Three bigger changes also caught my eye.

First: The most strongly-worded change from Nintendo amid their swathe of updates is a major expansion of the company’s longstanding warning to the gamers it seems most frustrated with these days: those who hack or modify its console and games, run emulators and, in Nintendo’s assessment, foment piracy.

Nintendo’s old user agreement, effective since April 2021, said:

You are not allowed 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.

Here’s the new, way more intense version, complete with the potential punishment of your Switch being bricked by Nintendo (new parts bolded by me):

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.

Whew! Got that? There are a few other notable changes I’ll get to in a moment, but let’s look at what they’re saying here.