Video game piracy has entered a new era with the first-ever arrest in Japan related to the modification of Nintendo Switch hardware. According to NTV News and translated by Automaton, a 58-year-old man was apprehended on January 15 for allegedly violating the Trademark Act. He is suspected of modifying Switch consoles to run pirated games and then selling these altered devices.
The suspect reportedly achieved this by welding modified parts onto the circuit boards of second-hand consoles, enabling them to play pirated games. He is accused of loading each console with 27 illegally accessed games and selling them for ¥28,000 (approximately $180) each. The man has admitted to the charges and is under further investigation for other potential violations, as reported by the police.
Nintendo, a company long embattled with piracy, took significant action in May 2024 by issuing a takedown request for 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 that Nintendo's flagship title, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, was pirated over one million times before its official release in 2023.
Legal battles against piracy are intensifying, with Nintendo securing victories in court against the game file-sharing site RomUniverse, which was mandated to pay $2.1 million in damages in 2021 and over $12 million in 2018. Additionally, Nintendo successfully blocked the GameCube and Wii emulator Dolphin from being released on the PC gaming platform Steam.
This week, a patent lawyer representing Nintendo shed light on the company's stance on piracy and emulation. Koji Nishiura, Assistant Manager of Nintendo's Intellectual Property Division, 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 combat piracy and protect its intellectual property.
