Nintendo wasn’t kidding about bricking the Switch 2 if hacking or piracy is detected. The company has been spotted disabling the console for users who run a third-party flash cartridge that emulates Switch 1 games.
Affected users used MIG Flash V2, a $65 cartridge out of Russia that can run unlicensed Switch games. Over the weekend, MIG developers added support to run the cartridge on a Switch 2.
Although MIG’s developers created the cartridge for back-up and game preservation purposes, the same product can be used to run bootleg Switch titles. So it’s not entirely surprising that Nintendo decided to take action, although the console bricking is a drastic action that’s been rankling affected owners.
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“I strongly recommend that you do not use the Mig switch,” wrote one user on X/Twitter. “It was already very risky to use but it is even more so on Switch 2.”
As evidence, the user posted an image, showing their Switch 2 displaying “Error Code: 2124-4508,” which the company will issue when permanently banning a user from connecting the device to the internet due to a breach of user agreement. Another affected user posted the same error code.
YouTuber Scattered Brain also posted a clip of how the error code will continually pop up as you try to use an affected Switch 2, blocking most of its functionality. Attempts to factory reset the device also don’t appear to work.
The bricking occurs after the company quietly updated its user agreement last month to explicitly say it “may render the Nintendo Account Services and/or the applicable Nintendo device permanently unusable in whole or in part,” if prohibited activity has been detected.
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The agreement also expanded the list of barred activities to include any efforts to “bypass, modify, decrypt, defeat, tamper with, or otherwise circumvent any of the functions or protections of the Nintendo Account Services.”
Still, the crackdown is stirring up a debate over whether Nintendo has gone too far, given that affected customers paid $449 for the device. YouTuber Scattered Brain also argues using a MIG flash product should be legal if you already own the Nintendo games that’ve been saved on the cartridge.
(Credit: migflash.com)
Nintendo didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, making it unclear if the company plans on restoring functionality to the affected consoles. But it looks like Nintendo has only enacted the strict user agreement in the US, not in Europe.
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About Michael Kan
Senior Reporter
