Nintendo might brick your Switch if you break the rules

Console modding enthusiasts beware, Nintendo might take away your system. According to a recently updated account services user agreement and privacy policy, Nintendo reserves the right to, “render the Nintendo Account Services and / or the applicable Nintendo device permanently unusable in whole or in part.” The change, first reported by Game File, came with a May 7th update and centers on Nintendo’s policy regarding how players use their consoles and Nintendo accounts.

Previously, the agreement called out the usual suspects of prohibited activities with users 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.” The new agreement has been expanded to include two additional subclauses of proscribed behaviors:

”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.”

In Nintendo’s announcement of the changes to its privacy policy, the company also said it would, “collect, monitor, and record audio and video of your chat sessions,” in preparation for the Switch 2’s new chat functionality.

With the Switch 2 launch less than a month away and with these further defined prohibitions, it’s clear that Nintendo is refining its approach to console modders and emulator developers. Nintendo is involved in several lawsuits against those the company has claimed violated its intellectual property rights including one suit that resulted in the total destruction of the most popular Switch emulation program, Yuzu.