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Nintendo has significantly strengthened its user agreement with stricter policies targeting modified Switch consoles, unauthorized emulators, and other prohibited activities.

As first reported by Game File, players have received notifications about updates to both the Nintendo Account Agreement and Privacy Policy. These revised terms, effective May 7, replace all previous versions and apply to both existing and new Nintendo Account holders. Game File's analysis revealed approximately 100 modifications between the old and new agreements.

Prior to May 6, the agreement prohibited users from "leasing, renting, sublicensing, publishing, copying, modifying, adapting, translating, reverse engineering, decompiling or disassembling all or any portion of the Nintendo Account Services without Nintendo's written consent, or unless otherwise expressly permitted by applicable law."

The updated U.S. version now includes significantly expanded restrictions:

"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."

The UK agreement differs 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."

While Nintendo hasn't specifically defined "unusable," the language strongly implies the company may fully disable ("brick") consoles found violating these terms. The updated privacy policy also emphasizes Nintendo's right to monitor online communications to "support a safe and family-friendly online environment and to detect violations of the Nintendo Account Agreement and other harmful or illegal interactions."

These policy changes likely reflect Nintendo's ongoing challenges with piracy and unauthorized modifications, particularly ahead of the Switch 2's highly anticipated June 5 launch. Despite pre-order issues stemming from overwhelming demand—including warnings about potential shipping delays—the company maintains the console's $449.99 price point.

For those interested in the upcoming console, we recommend checking IGN's Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order guide for the latest purchasing information and availability updates.