Japan Arrests First Alleged Nintendo Switch Modder in New Era of Video Game Piracy

Video game piracy has entered a new era with the Japanese police arresting, for the first time, an individual accused of modifying Nintendo Switch hardware. According to NTV News, and translated by Automaton, a 58-year-old man was apprehended on January 15 on suspicion of breaching the Trademark Act. He allegedly modified Switch consoles to play pirated games and then sold these altered units.

The process involved welding modified parts onto the circuit boards of second-hand consoles, enabling them to run pirated games. The suspect is accused of loading each console with 27 illegally obtained games and selling them for ¥28,000 (approximately $180) each. He has confessed to the charges and is under further investigation for potential additional violations, as stated by the police.

Nintendo has been actively combating piracy for years. For instance, in May 2024, the company issued a takedown request targeting 8,500 copies of the Switch emulator Yuzu, following the emulator's removal two months earlier. Nintendo's lawsuit against Yuzu's creators, Tropic Haze, revealed that their flagship game, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, was pirated over a million times before its official release in 2023.

Legal actions against piracy are becoming increasingly common. Nintendo successfully sued the game file-sharing site RomUniverse, securing $2.1 million in damages in 2021 and over $12 million in 2018. Additionally, they blocked the GameCube and Wii emulator Dolphin from launching on the PC gaming platform Steam.

This week, Koji Nishiura, Assistant Manager of Nintendo's Intellectual Property Division, shed light on the company's stance on piracy and emulation. He stated, “To begin with, are emulators illegal or not? This is a point often debated. While you can’t immediately claim that an emulator is illegal in itself, it can become illegal depending on how it’s used.” This highlights Nintendo's ongoing efforts to combat piracy through legal and technical measures.