Nintendo has recently tightened its user agreement, introducing more stringent terms and conditions aimed at curbing unauthorized activities on the Switch console. This includes hacking, running emulators, and other forms of "unauthorized use." As reported by Game File, emails have been sent to players notifying them of the updates to the Nintendo Account Agreement and the Nintendo Account Privacy Policy, effective as of May 7. These new rules supersede all previous versions and apply to all existing and new Nintendo Account users. Game File noted approximately 100 changes from the previous agreement to the revised one.
Prior to May 6, the agreement prohibited users from leasing, renting, sublicensing, publishing, copying, modifying, adapting, translating, reverse engineering, decompiling, or disassembling any part of the Nintendo Account Services without Nintendo's written consent or unless permitted by applicable law. However, the updated terms in the U.S. have expanded significantly. The new section now states:
"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, stating:
"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 hasn't specified what "unusable" entails, the language implies that the company may now have the authority to "brick" your console if it detects a violation of its rules. Additionally, the updated privacy policy emphasizes that Nintendo may monitor Switch users' online chats to ensure a safe and family-friendly environment and to identify breaches of the Nintendo Account Agreement and other harmful or illegal activities.
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These changes may be in response to Nintendo's recent challenges with high-profile piracy cases and are timed ahead of the launch of the eagerly awaited Nintendo Switch 2, scheduled for June 5. Pre-orders for the Nintendo Switch 2 opened on April 24, with the console priced at $449.99. The pre-orders were met with overwhelming demand, as noted by Nintendo. Nintendo has also issued a warning to U.S. customers who pre-ordered through the My Nintendo Store, stating that release date delivery is not guaranteed due to high demand. For more details, check out IGN's Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order guide.
