The Nintendo Switch 2 hasonly been in our hands for two weeks, but already, players are being banned from using online services after loading third-party cartridges. That means no DLC, no updates, noeShop, no cloud saves — your console is bricked.
The cartridges in question are MIGs, which allow you to create and store backups of your legally bought Switch games. Or at least, that’s how they should be used: their manufacturer stresses that they “serve as a backup and development device solely supporting gaming using personal game backups”. But as you’d expect, they’re often used to load pirated games, which is why Nintendo takes issue with them.
As reported byIGN, the console giant isn’t holding back with the Switch 2, as players using the MIG cartridges even for “perfectly legal dumps” are being prompted with ‘Error Code: 2124-4508’, completely ruining their $450 hardware. “I have only used my own backed-up games on the MIG Switch and got the ban hammer,“u/shawn232 claimed. “Unfortunately, as the idea of having all my games on one cart was nice, though, I am not surprised it happened.”
Using MIG Cartridges Doesn’t Appear To Ban Your Switch 2 Account
Luckily, it only seems to be the Switch 2 itself that’s affected, not the accounts tied to it. The error message specifically highlights that “The use of online serviceson this consoleis currently restricted”, and those who have risked their new hardware to test the cards, like u/givemeupvotes-_-, claim that their “account is fine for now”.
If you really want to use a MIG cartridge, you might want to keep your console in aeroplane mode.
This prompted suggestions to try factory resetting the Switch 2 to see if the ban would be lifted, but this only appears to make things worse.YouTuber Scattered Brain put it to the test, connected to the internet, and was still met with the error code. Only now, since they couldn’t sign into their Nintendo account, they couldn’t open the eShop to download any games. That meant they couldn’t use any of their digital purchases, such asMario Kart World, in offline mode.
“We are entirely bricked, a permanent brick; there is nothing you can do with this Switch 2 on the internet,” Scattered Brain explained. “Now that I’ve restored the Switch, disconnected it from everything, there’s nothing that I can do.”
