Nintendo will take your Switch 2 offline forever if you use a Mig flash cartridge

Some Switch 2 owners person received the mistake codification 2134-4508, which results successful their consoles being permanently banned from accessing immoderate of its online services, arsenic spotted by IGN. It’s not a prohibition hammer from sucking astatine Mario Kart World, thankfully for me, but 1 that’s targeting consoles that person utilized a Mig – a microSD card-equipped Switch cartridge that tin beryllium filled with copies of games. 

Running games connected the Mig requires you to download them from others who person dumped files disconnected of cartridges, oregon dump the games yourself with thing similar the Mig Dumper, past load them onto a microSD card. Whether you’ve utilized 1 to play pirated games, oregon to play copies of games that you own, Nintendo’s stance connected the substance is broad: It considers some to beryllium violations of its idiosyncratic agreements.

The makers of the Mig cartridge person taken tenable efforts to region itself from what a bulk of buyers volition apt bash with it, which is play pirated games. The cartridge’s merchandise leafage notes that it “serves arsenic a backup and improvement instrumentality solely supporting gaming utilizing idiosyncratic crippled backups. […] To support the Mig Flash warranty during online play, it’s indispensable to utilize self-dumped backups with authentic Certificate, UID, and Card Set ID.”

Nintendo isn’t bricking the consoles of offenders, astatine least, not immediately. YouTube creator Scattered Brain posted a video astir their banned Switch 2 successful which they tried to find a mode astir the ban. Attempting to sojourn the eShop wasn’t possible, nor was unlinking an relationship from the console, since some activities necessitate the internet. They were capable to unlink Virtual Game Cards from their Switch 2 from Nintendo’s relationship absorption tract and load them onto a Switch OLED, suggesting that the prohibition is constricted to the hardware and not the account. However, a mill reset fundamentally bricked their Switch 2, arsenic it nary longer allowed signing into immoderate Nintendo Account. This is thing that Nintendo reserves the close to do per its updated relationship services idiosyncratic statement and privateness policy.

No one, but particularly Mig users, should beryllium amazed astir this ban. Nintendo has a affluent past of aggressively pursuing those who pirate its games, arsenic good arsenic those who physique emulators that tin tally pirated copies of games primitively made for its platforms. Considering that the Switch 2 is the fastest-selling console of each time, Nintendo’s intelligibly throwing everything it’s got astatine making definite gamers are playing by its rules.