In defence of Switch 2 bans: My TED talk.

Preamble:
Brick noun, slang
An inoperable electronic device, such as a phone, tablet, or computer.

I will be talking only about MIG Switch bans, not supposed console-wide bans due to usernames or other similar situations.
If true, console-wide permanent bans for minor breaches of the EULA are unacceptable, and Nintendo should be held financially liable.

I am not a fan of Nintendo, nor was I during my childhood. In my region, Nintendo was not popular at all, so I have no nostalgic feelings for this company or its consoles.
I’ve pirated games in the past, and I understand some of the reasons why people might do it. Thankfully, I now have access to “adult money” and can avoid piracy willingly -especially because my backlog is ever-growing.

While we’re at it: if you’re based in the EU or UK, please look into the Stop Killing Games initiative.

There is currently no proof of Nintendo actually bricking consoles (i.e. making them completely inoperable).

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Okay, so let’s get to it:
MIG Switch. We don’t have any solid information about the sales. This is something we can only assume and theorize about - and honestly? I believe this is the weakest pillar of my argument, but it’s not the only one.

Let’s be honest with ourselves: people do not buy the MIG Switch for preservation or convenience. While it can help with backup copies, the MIG cartridge is not convenient to use - you have to swap games one at a time. And if you want the convenience of carrying multiple games with you at once, you're not going to browse blindly through 40 games just to switch from Animal Crossing to Xenoblade Chronicles.
Doing so would wear out both the cartridge and the console's slot just to search for one game.

Additionally, we can assume that MIG Flash Dumper sales are nowhere near those of the MIG cartridge - based on how ROM dumpers sold before MIG released their own.
So let’s be clear here: the MIG FlashCart is used primarily for piracy, and anyone who claims otherwise is either being dishonest with you or with themselves.

But I hear you say sarcastically:

“Oh no! Big Nintendo is losing money on their games ☹ ”

I have no love for Nintendo either - but we’ve already seen what happens when piracy is too easy. It happened twice, and twice it killed a console.

First, with the PSP - which had many great releases, both first- and third-party.
Then with the PS Vita, where piracy was so rampant that game sales plummeted. Even Sony gave up on the system, eventually abandoning it without even bothering to patch the exploits that allowed hacking.

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So what does this mean for us, and why shouldn’t we welcome easily piratable platforms?

It's simple:

• If pirating games is easier than buying them, people will pirate.
• If people don’t buy games, developers and publishers make no money.
• If there’s no money in it, they won’t develop new games for that system.

Nintendo needs to guarantee not just for themselves, but also for third-party publishers, that their games will be protected and that sales will happen.

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Ok, but let’s break that argument down further.
Let’s be kind-hearted and assume every person who bought a MIG cartridge has the means to dump their legally owned games and genuinely thinks it's convenient to reinsert the cartridge 40 times to browse through all dumped games.
Let’s say piracy on MIG is “minimal,” even though in reality it’s the other way around - and it's easier to just buy a jailbroken Switch (at least when talking about S1 games).

There’s another issue - and you don’t need to be a software developer to see it:

You can run modified ROMs.

Yeah, mods are great. Don’t get me wrong - I’ve spent hundreds of hours modding Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. individually.
If I counted other games, the time I’ve spent fiddling with mods would probably add up to thousands of hours.
I love customizing my experience and making it fit my style.

But stay the fuck out of online play.

Running modified ROMs on the Switch doesn’t just let people have modded games - it also enables cheating. And I’m not just talking about generating shiny Pokémon. I mean real, competitive cheats.

Of course, the competitive scene on Switch is different than on PC - but crossplay exists.
Nintendo could definitely be held liable for not providing a secure environment for third-party multiplayer games.

Not to mention, a sufficiently skilled script-kiddie could run malicious arbitrary code and ruin your fun - even in casual multiplayer environments.

Tera Raids are already bad enough. I don’t need people crashing my game just to annoy randos online.

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In most cases, pirated games cannot access the online features of that game.
And even when they can, it’s usually only to play with others who are pirating.
There are exceptions, but they’re rare.

The same goes for modded games:

• You can only mod single-player games,
• Or the mods must be client-side only,
• Or all players must use the same curated mod pack.

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So… I don’t blame Nintendo for banning entire consoles from accessing online functionality.
(There is no verified, credible proof that Nintendo actually bricks consoles.)

If you want to pirate games: stay offline. That’s the price you pay.
If you want to mod games: stay offline. I want my environment to stay clean.

I also understand why they ban whole consoles and not just individual accounts.

Banning accounts doesn’t stop cheaters - which is why so many exist on competitive PC games.
Even IP bans aren’t enough.
I feel sorry for people who bought a used Switch only to discover it was banned - but that’s on whoever got the console banned and/or resold it without checking if it’s working, It’s not on Nintendo.

And to the select few who used the MIG cartridge legitimately:
What the hell were you thinking?
I feel sorry for you, but you could’ve waited literally a day or two and saved yourself $200.

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Addendum:
I’m not a fan of this, but there’s no such thing as “legitimate backup copies” in today’s world.
It’s a sad reality, but EULAs and copyright laws (especially in the U.S.) are so messed up that even making playable ROM dumps of modern games usually requires breaking copyright and patent laws.
And that’s not even getting into how you don’t actually buy games - you buy a license.

Making copies “for personal use” is, at best, a legal grey area.
At best.

We’ve slept on this issue for too long, and now game publishers have moved the goalposts entirely off the field.

I know: "Owning ≠ stealing" and "piracy isn’t theft" - and I can sympathize with that.

But be smart. There’s no reason for Nintendo to allow your console to connect to their servers if you choose to use it that way.
And if you had money for both the MIG and the ROM dumper… you had money for a separate "Clean" console.

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Ps.: SONY AND MICROSOFT DID THIS SINCE PSN ANDXBOX LIVE BECAME A THING.