In a groundbreaking development in the fight against video game piracy, Japanese authorities have made their first arrest related to the modification of Nintendo Switch hardware. On January 15, a 58-year-old man was apprehended on suspicion of violating the Trademark Act by altering Switch consoles to play pirated games, as reported by NTV News and translated by Automaton.
The suspect allegedly modified second-hand Switch consoles by welding new parts to their circuit boards, enabling them to run pirated games. He is accused of loading these consoles with 27 illegally accessed games and selling each modified unit for ¥28,000, approximately $180. The man has confessed to the charges and is under further investigation for potential additional violations.
Nintendo, a company that has been at the forefront of combating piracy, continues to face significant challenges. In May 2024, Nintendo issued a takedown request targeting 8,500 copies of the Switch emulator Yuzu, following the emulator's removal two months earlier. The lawsuit against Yuzu's creator, Tropic Haze, highlighted the piracy of their flagship title, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which was pirated over a million times before its official release in 2023.
Legal actions against piracy are intensifying. Nintendo successfully pursued lawsuits against the game file-sharing site RomUniverse, securing $2.1 million in damages in 2021 and over $12 million in 2018. Additionally, Nintendo blocked the release of the GameCube and Wii emulator Dolphin 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 underscores Nintendo's ongoing efforts to protect its intellectual property and combat the proliferation of piracy.
