Buyer Beware: Buying That Used Switch Game Can Lead To A Nintendo Ban

Nintendo is incredibly aggressive when it comes to defending its intellectual property and stamping out piracy. The company has managed to get Switch emulators shutdown, and is now able to detect and ban someone who is using a third party backup tool called MIG Flash. Unfortunately, it seems as if innocent users who are buying used games are getting caught up in Nintendo’s war against pirates.

A user by the name dmanthey on the Switch subreddit reported having been banned after picking up some original Switch games on Facebook marketplace. They inserted each of the four games they bought into their Switch 2 to download any necessary updates. The following morning they were greeted with a message that their console was restricted from using the company’s online services.


Luckily for dmanthey, the ban was reversed after contacting Nintendo’s customer support team. “They had me pull up the Facebook marketplace listing and take some pics of the cartridges.” Additionally, they sent over the chat logs of the conversation between themselves and the seller. Unfortunately, judging by the responses from the community, this reversal seems to be the exception rather than the norm.

So why are used game purchases getting some users in hot water with Nintendo? It appears as if the issue is that the games had backup copies that already existed and were being used in other systems. When Nintendo spots this happening it will just ban whatever consoles are associated with this kind of behavior, assuming it must be piracy at work.

While it’s understandable that Nintendo doesn’t want piracy to thrive on its platforms, wholesale banning a system feels like overkill. While dmanthey had the wherewithal to know what to do in this situation, other users may not. This could lead to unnecessary e-waste, with consoles that are just dumped after getting banned. There has to be a better way, especially because used games are a great option for many gamers, as gaming media is becoming increasingly more expensive.