- Nintendo warned the software pirates that it could deactivate their switch remotely. The change of policy was included in a recent update of the user contract. Nintendo has a story of battles with pirates software.
Nintendo intensifies its efforts to combat hacking.
While he is preparing to launch the Switch 2The video game giant has updated its user agreement, informing To change Owners that if this console contains games or hacked modifications, Nintendo has the right to remotely make the system useless.
The announcement, spotted by Game filewas buried in a recent update that most users have probably not read. If the users “bypass, modify, decry, defeat, alteration or bypass or otherwise bypass one of the functions or protections of the Nintendo account services”, it can be read, Nintendo could make this “Nintendo device applicable permanently unusable in whole or in part”.
Nintendo has a long history of response against hacking, including emulator programs, which allow players to make games without the original console (and are often used to play pirated games). Dolphin, an open source emulator for the Nintendo Wii and Gamecube, was a target of the game giant in 2023 when he announced his intention to put his emulator on the Steam game distribution platform. Nintendo sent a prescription to cease-and-denominated in Valve, which has drawn the list. A few days later, Dolphin developers announcement “It is with great disappointment that we must announce that the release of Dolphin on Steam has been indefinitely postponed.”
“Nintendo undertakes to protect the hard work and creativity of video game engineers and developers”, a spokesperson for Nintendo said Kotaku in May 2023.
Last year, the company managed to close the Yuzu emulator, saying that the team behind it had facilitated[ed] hacking on a colossal scale. The Yuzu team agreed to pay $ 2.4 million and ended all operations.
Remote deactivation of a game system is however a new approach. Nintendo, of course, did not detail how it would, but the company regularly issues system updates, which could include the code intended to sniff emulators or unauthorized copies of games.
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
