Nintendo says it might disable your Switch if you tamper with it

The post Nintendo says it might disable your Switch if you tamper with it appeared first on Android Headlines.

May 12, 2025 - 17:49

Nintendo reportedly has the potential to disable your Nintendo Switch or perhaps the Nintendo Switch 2 (once it launches) if you don’t follow its new rules. In other words, if you agree to its new user agreement and then go against it, Nintendo is saying it might punish you. Nintendo lays everything out in its new user agreement changes that were emailed to users over the past week.

The only users who really need to worry about these changes are users who modify their consoles. Nintendo has never been a fan of users who mess with their hardware. So it’s taking measures to try and deter users from doing so. Of course, it’s worth noting that Nintendo isn’t explicitly saying that it will, 100% of the time, act on these changes if it discovers users are modifying consoles. However, it’s reserving the right to do so per this agreement change. And that’s probably not a risk that most users are going to want to take.

Nintendo may be able to disable Switch and Switch 2 consoles remotely through updates

This seems like the only logical explanation of how things could play out. As pointed out by Stephen Totilo in the Game File report (via Techradar), Nintendo’s new user agreement states that if users 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.”

There’s a bunch of other information in there as well, but mostly legal talk, and the important part is that last bit where Nintendo says it may render the Nintendo account and/or hardware permanently unusable. It’s also important to note that Nintendo says in whole or in part. Which just means it can partially or fully disable the account and hardware. Likely, this would change on a case-by-case basis.

As for how Nintendo could make this happen, it seems pretty straightforward. Software updates would be the only way that makes sense. If Nintendo finds out a user modifies their console to play pirated or emulated games, or install homebrew software, all it would have to do is send out a software update that seems normal. That update could include a trigger that bricks the console. Another important detail worth mentioning is that Nintendo updated its agreement in the US and the UK, though not necessarily in other regions.

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