Nintendo is taking no prisoners when it comes to piracy with the Switch 2, even if that means catching legitimate players in the crossfire.
As reported byMetro, one user was banned after inserting a second-hand game into their console, restricting them from using the eShop and downloading any of their owned games. Thankfully, customer support were immensely helpful in getting them unbanned after they provided screenshots of the Facebook Marketplace listing where they bought the cartridge.
Brazil is challenging Nintendo over its ability to remotely brick Switch 2 consoles.
“Be careful buying used Switch 1 games,“u/dmantheywarned. “you may get banned if a bad actor dumped it. Having said that, Nintendo support is amazing and will help you get back up and running.”
The Second Hand Switch Market Just Got A Whole Lot Riskier
Last month, it came to light thatNintendo was cracking down on MIGs. These are blank, Switch-compatible cartridges that players can dump their legitimately owned games on, while also using them to swap between titles without having to finagle between boxes. However, they are also used to store and play pirated copies of games. As such, Nintendo has taken a hard stance againstallMIG cartridges, bricking consoles if they’re detected.
It appears that u/dmanthey was targeted because whoever sold their games on Facebook Marketplace had dumped them onto a MIG beforehand so that they could make some money back while keeping a copy. Because Nintendo detected that the same version of the game was being played on two consoles at once, a ban was automatically doled out.
Customer support told u/dmanthey that they can now use the cartridge and even resell it if they so choose.
This presents a pretty big issue for the secondhand market place, as it turns every purchase into a gamble—if someone has stored the game, you could be faced with a ban. Several commenters report similar situations, with u/ifyshipsirl even getting banned after borrowing a game from the library, which someone had clearly copied onto a MIG.
Customer support are undoing these bans quite quickly, so your console won’t be permanently bricked if you buy a cartridge from a bad actor, but it still makes resales riskier than ever.
