Nintendo has recently tightened its user agreement, making significant revisions to the terms and conditions to take a firmer stance against players who hack their Switch console, run emulators, or engage in any other forms of "unauthorized use." As reported by Game File, emails have been sent to players informing them of the updates to the Nintendo Account Agreement and the Nintendo Account Privacy Policy. These new rules, effective as of May 7, supersede all previous versions and apply to both existing and new Nintendo Account users. According to Game File, approximately 100 changes have been made to the agreement.

Prior to May 6, the agreement stated that users were not allowed to "lease, rent, sublicense, publish, copy, modify, adapt, translate, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble all or any portion of the Nintendo Account Services without Nintendo's written consent, or unless otherwise expressly permitted by applicable law." However, the updated U.S. version of this section has been significantly expanded:

"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."

As highlighted by Nintendo Life, the agreement for UK users 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 has not explicitly defined what "unusable" means, the language suggests that the company now reserves the right to "brick" your console if it detects any violations of its rules. Additionally, changes to the privacy policy emphasize that Nintendo may monitor Switch users' online chats to maintain a safe and family-friendly environment and to identify any breaches of the Nintendo Account Agreement or other harmful or illegal activities.

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These updates may be a response to Nintendo's recent challenges, such as high-profile piracy cases and the upcoming launch of the much-anticipated Nintendo Switch 2, scheduled for June 5. Pre-orders for the Nintendo Switch 2 opened on April 24, maintaining the price at $449.99, and were met with the expected high demand. Nintendo has also cautioned U.S. customers who pre-ordered through the My Nintendo Store that release date delivery cannot be guaranteed due to overwhelming interest. For more details, check out IGN's Nintendo Switch 2 pre-order guide.