Consumer Rights Wiki

Nintendo

Revision as of 00:32, 3 June 2025 by Vindicator4021 (talk | contribs) (Mostly cleaned up formatting in various sections, rephrased some things for clarity, and added some minor details (e.g., links).)


Founded in 1889, Nintendo Co., Ltd. is a multi-billion-dollar video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan with multiple subdivisions outside of Japan. They manufacture video game consoles and handhelds, the most recent of which being the Switch 2. Some of their best-known systems include the Wii, Switch "1", GameCube, and Game Boy. They are also well-known for various popular video game franchises, such as Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, and Metroid.

Nintendo
Basic information
Founded 1889
Type Public
Industry Electronics, Entertainment Software
Official website https://nintendo.com/

Consumer-impact summary

  • User Freedom: Extensive history against hardware and software modification; recently has pushed to brick consoles if homebrew is detected.
  • User Privacy: Historically has ignored individual consumers; recently may be spying on Nintendo Switch hardware to detect modifications.
  • Business Model: Hardware sales, software sales, more recently subscriptions such as Nintendo Switch Online.
  • Market Competition: Limited home console competition from Sony and Xbox; questionable portable console competition.

Controversial Practices

This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the Nintendo category.

History against console emulation

United States Copyright Law, Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 117 effectively states that making a copy of a computer program that you still own the original copy of (e.g., a video game, like Super Smash Bros. Melee) is legal if copying it is necessary in order to use the program with a machine (e.g., the Dolphin emulator) and that it isn't used in any other way, or to archive the program[1]. Emulation is also legal in this context, as proven by Sony v. Connectix[2] and Sony v. Bleem[3]. Despite this precedent, however, Nintendo is well-known for their extensive history of combating emulation of their games and hardware.

Examples:

  • In 1999, Nintendo sued Nintendo 64 emulator UltraHLE.[4]
  • On November 19th, 2020, The Big House, a Super Smash Brothers Melee and Ultimate tournament, announced that Nintendo had sent them a cease and desist because of their use of a Super Smash Bros. Melee modification that required the use of a GameCube and Wii emulator known as Dolphin.[5][6] This led them to have to cancel the tournament. Full section: The Big House Online Tournament (2020)
  • In 2024, Nintendo took down Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu.[7]
  • Nintendo has also pressured for restrictions to access emulators, such as Dolphin's non-inclusion as a core for the Steam version of RetroArch.[8]

History against hardware modification

Further Reading: Game Genie lawsuit, Le Hoang Minh lawsuit, Team Xecuter and Gary Bowser lawsuit, ModdedHardware lawsuit, Nintendo's May 2025 Policy Updates See also: Controversial agreements and policies

Nintendo is known to frequently get into legal altercations with the creators of hardware modifications.

Examples:

  • Nintendo has sued the creators of cheat code devices, such as the Game Genie[9] and 10NES circumvention[10] which allowed users to enter cheat codes into their games and bypass the security lockout chip to prevent piracy.
  • On November 18th, 2020, Nintendo of America sued Le Hoang Minh for selling RCM Loaders (plug in USB devices allowing unsigned/homebrew software to run on a Nintendo Switch), accusing him of selling piracy devices.[11]
  • On April 16th, 2021, Nintendo of America sued Gary Bowser, head of video game modchip development and sales group Team Xecuter for over $150,000, accusing him of selling piracy devices.[12]
  • On June 28th, 2024, Nintendo sued modded game seller ModdedHardware for selling Nintendo Switch flashcarts, modded Nintendo Switch consoles, and a mail-in console modding service with the argument being raised that a modded system is capable of running pirated software alongside allegations of ModdedHardware pre-installing pirated games, despite citing no evidence in the legal document.[13]
  • In May 2025, Nintendo updated their privacy policy[14] to reserve the company the right to remotely disable consoles owned by consumers if it detects modified hardware or software attempting to run on the system.[15]

De-listing/destruction of access to games

Further Reading: Storefront shutdown#Wii U/3DS eShops (2012–2023), Storefront shutdown#Wii Shop Channel (2006–2019)

In late January of 2019, Nintendo shut down their first digital storefront, the Wii Shop Channel.[16] Subsequently, on March 27, 2023, they shut down the Wii U and 3DS eShops.[17] These shutdowns have caused hundreds of games to become impossible to legally obtain new copies of and for some, additionally play which include Splatoon 1, Super Mario Maker, Pokémon Picross, and more.[18] As of now, over 1,000 digitally exclusive games can only be obtained through piracy, and a subset requires additional modification to run.

In early 2025, Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) delisted a game for the first time, Super Soccer.[19][20] With the previously mentioned events of delisting of products a consumer owns for their consoles, such as a physical game on disc or a previously downloaded digital title, consumers still had the ability to play these games, and in some instances, even reinstall them. However, with NSO acting as a streaming service for games it provides to consumers, when a title is delisted, consumers completely and totally lose access to the game, unless the company who requested the title to be delisted were to re-list the game on the service. This event has caused rightful concern among consumers, because this may set a dangerous precedent for access to retro games in the future.[21]

Nintendo authorized repair

Further Reading: Nintendo authorized repair

A man sent in their Nintendo Switch to Nintendo for repair of a broken charging port and was given an estimate of £132 (161.51 USD) to replace the entire motherboard, which would result in data loss and noted screen damage. This was despite the only damage to the console being to the charging port and a screen protector, and not the screen itself.[22]

Joy-Con and Joystick related Hardware Failures

Joy-Cons are the included controllers (retailing for $80) for the Nintendo Switch, and they are prone to failure via "stick drift" within a few months of purchase. According to the 2022 study by the British consumer protection group 'Which?', 40% of Nintendo Switch owners experienced Joy-Con drift.[23] This defect is also found in other official Nintendo controllers, like the Pro Controller (Pro-Cons), and the Switch Lite, a version of the Nintendo Switch that has its Joy-Cons built into the handheld system. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa apologized for the "inconvenience" and subsequently launched Nintendo's "free repair program."

The way the "free repair program" works is that the user will send the defective Joy-Cons to Nintendo for "repair," which, in most cases, involves replacing the defective Joy-Cons with new ones. The problem arises in cases involving limited edition Joy-Cons, where you have to sign off on consenting to the possibility of your limited edition or "non-standard colored" Joy-Cons being replaced with a standard color Joy-Con if they are sent to Nintendo for "repair." This leaves consumers with these limited edition Joy-Cons without a guaranteed way to get their products repaired if they use Nintendo's official repair service.

The Big House Online Tournament (2020)

On November 19th, 2020, The Big House, a Super Smash Brothers Melee and Ultimate tournament, announced on X (formerly known as Twitter) that they had received a cease and desist from Nintendo of America, and would be forced to cancel the tournament.[6] Nintendo had told The Big House that they were not allowed to host their online tournament because of their use of a game modification. The modification was Slippi, which runs through a GameCube and Wii emulator called Dolphin to enable online functionality for Super Smash Bros. Melee.[24]

Because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, The Big House tournament was going to be run online primarily for attendees' safety. Melee is a video game from 2001 that does not have built-in online functionality, so it would have been impossible to run an online tournament for it without the use of modifications. A Nintendo of America spokesperson claimed that the cease and desist was issued to "protect [Nintendo's] intellectual property and brands". The spokesperson also stated that allowing the tournament to run would "condone or allow piracy of [Nintendo's] intellectual property". In other words, the spokesperson claimed that using Slippi would have required the use of pirated copies of Melee[5], despite the fact that professional Melee players typically play legitimate copies of the game on official hardware to practice and compete.

Nintendo V. Pocketpair

Nintendo is suing Pocketpair, the developers of the extremely popular video game Palworld,[25] for patent infringement, despite filing the patent after Palworld was already released to the public.[26][27][28] Should Nintendo win this case, users who purchased licenses for Palworld may be revoked.

Nintendo Creators Program

Main article: Nintendo Creators Program

In 2013, Nintendo placed advertisements on let's play videos where their games were played, taking 100% of all revenue made by said adverts.[29] In 2015, Nintendo started a YouTube partnership program, which required the removal of all non-Nintendo related videos on the channel, creators being given 60% of revenue per video or 70% of the channel's gross revenue. The program only allowed games on a internal Nintendo-made whitelist which infamously lacked multiple large/popular releases of the time.[30] In 2017, Nintendo announced that live streaming wasn't allowed for creators in their Creator Program.[31] It ended in 2018[32], with Nintendo stating they “encourage you to create videos that include your creative input and commentary” and that “Videos and images that contain mere copies of Nintendo Game Content without creative input or commentary are not permitted.”[33]

Controversial agreements and policies

Main article: Nintendo's May 2025 Policy Updates

On May 8th, 2025, Nintendo changed their privacy policy[34][35] and Nintendo Account User Agreement,[36] with features inside both which have the potential to negatively impact consumers. Highlights such as Section 6 (Adherence to content guidelines), Section 13 (reservation to render hardware/software inaccessible), and section 16 (forced arbitration) are key features that come to the risk of right to ownership of hardware and software that consumers may have paid for.

Considerable backlash occurred especially over section 13, as both consumers[37][38][39] and outlets[40][41] believe this means Nintendo reserved the right to effectively "brick" consoles such as the Nintendo Switch or its successor.[15] This also may concern repair shops, as they may be required to instead purchase proprietary repair software from Nintendo to run diagnostics for the console, or otherwise risk bricking the console running personal/community-developed software.

Deliberately locking Switch 2 consoles behind an online-only patch

Users have reported Switch 2 consoles being in stock in some stores,[42][43] however for these users who did get their hands on the console early among a multitude of reasons, these consoles are locked behind a patch that requires an internet connection to Nintendo servers to use the consoles.[43][44] While this is a measure used to deter piracy ahead of the system's launch,[44] this does mean that users will be required to connect to the internet to have any viable console functionality post-launch.[45][46]

Despite these measures, a sizeable portion of the Switch 1 library, and especially AAA titles, will not be available to play post-launch for an undetermined period of time.[47]

Products

Console Hardware

Console peripherals/add-ons

Software

References

  1. ↑ "Chapter 1: Subject Matter and Scope of Copyright, Section 117". U.S. Copyright Office. 2010. Retrieved 31 May 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ↑ "Sony Computer Entertainment v. Connectix Corp". CaseText. 31 May 2025. Archived from the original on 31 Mar 2025. Retrieved 31 May 2025.
  3. ↑ "Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. v. Bleem, LLC". Wikisource. 02 Apr 2023. Retrieved 31 May 2025. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ↑ @Hemos (12 Feb 1999). "Nintendo Confirms It Will Sue UltraHLE Creators 96". games.slashdot.org. Retrieved 7 May 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Robertson, Adi (20 Nov 2020). "Nintendo shuts down Super Smash Bros. tournament for using mods to play online". The Verge. Retrieved 31 May 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "The Big House on X (Twitter)". X (Twitter). 19 Nov 2020. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); |archive-url= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  7. ↑ Ford, Joseph (11 Apr 2024). "Ninten-don't: Breaking Down the Yuzu Emulator Lawsuit". www.romanolaw.com. Retrieved 7 May 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ↑ "What Happened to Dolphin on Steam?". it.dolphin-emu.org. 20 Jul 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ↑ Johnson, Eric E. (31 Dec 2007). "Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc. v. Nintendo of America, Inc. in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit 964 F. 2d 965 (9th Cir. 1992)". www.museumofintellectualproperty.org. Retrieved 7 May 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ↑ "Atari Games Corp. v. Nintendo of Am. Inc" (PDF). www.copyright.gov. 1992. Retrieved 7 May 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ↑ Carpenter, Nicole (18 Nov 2020). "Nintendo sues more hack sellers, 'a worsening international problem'". Polygon. Archived from the original on 26 Nov 2020. Retrieved 22 Mar 2025.
  12. ↑ Carpenter, Nicole (17 Apr 2021). "Nintendo suing Bowser over Switch hacks". Polygon. Archived from the original on 17 Apr 2021. Retrieved 22 Mar 2025.
  13. ↑ Van der Sar, Ernesto (1 Jul 2024). "Nintendo Sues 'Modded Hardware' and r/SwitchPirates Moderator 'Archbox'". TorrentFreak. Archived from the original on 10 Jul 2024. Retrieved 22 Mar 2025.
  14. ↑ Nintendo. "Nintendo Privacy Policy". Nintendo Accounts. Retrieved May 9, 2025.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Nightingale, Ed (May 9, 2025). "Nintendo reserves the right to brick your console following "unauthorised use", in bid to prevent piracy". Eurogamer. Retrieved May 9, 2025.
  16. ↑ "Wii Shop Channel Discontinuation". Nintendo Customer Support. 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. ↑ "Notice of End of Purchases in Nintendo eShop for Wii U and Nintendo 3DUpdate April 2023". Nintendo Support. Apr 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ↑ "These are the 1,000 digital-only 3DS and Wii U games disappearing next week". www.videogameschronicle.com. 22 Mar 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  19. ↑ @GVG (28 Feb 2025). "First Game Removed from Nintendo Switch Online". YouTube. Retrieved 7 May 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  20. ↑ Glagowski, Peter (28 Feb 2025). "Nintendo of Japan announces title will be removed from NSO library, first time since launch". Nintendo Wire. Retrieved 7 May 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  21. ↑ Flores Jr., Johnny (1 Mar 2025). "Nintendo Is Delisting A Game From The Switch Online Library For The First Time". The Gamer. Retrieved 7 May 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  22. ↑ Rossmann, Louis (31 Jul 2021). "Why Nintendo authorized repair sucks: the incentives are at odds with a good repair experience". YouTube. Retrieved 7 May 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  23. ↑ Laughlin, Andrew (14 Jun 2022). "Two in five UK Nintendo Switch Classic consoles blighted by Joy-Con drift". Which?. Archived from the original on 26 Jun 2022. Retrieved 1 Jun 2025.
  24. ↑ "About - What is Slippi?". Slippi.gg. Retrieved 31 May 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  25. ↑ @Palworld_EN (19 Sep 2024). "Regarding the Lawsuit Yesterday, a lawsuit was filed against our company for patent infringement. We have received notice of this lawsuit and will begin the appropriate legal proceedings and investigations into the claims of patent infringement. At this moment, we are unaware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing upon, and we have not been notified of such details. Pocketpair is a small indie game company based in Tokyo. Our goal as a company has always been to create fun games. We will continue to pursue this goal because we know that our games bring joy to millions of gamers around the world. Palworld was a surprise success this year, both for gamers and for us. We were blown away by the amazing response to the game and have been working hard to make it even better for our fans. We will continue improving Palworld and strive to create a game that our fans can be proud of. It is truly unfortunate that we will be forced to allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development due to this lawsuit. However, we will do our utmost for our fans, and to ensure that indie game developers are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas. We apologize to our fans and supporters for any worry or discomfort that this news has caused. As always, thank you for your continued support of Palworld and Pocketpair. https://pocketpair.jp/news/news16". X. Retrieved 7 May 2025. {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  26. ↑ "US Patent Application for STORAGE MEDIUM STORING GAME PROGRAM, GAME SYSTEM, GAME APPARATUS, AND GAME PROCESSING METHOD Patent Application (Application #20240278129)". patents.justia.com. 2 May 2024. Retrieved 7 May 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  27. ↑ @PirateSoftware (17 Oct 2024). "Palworld Lawsuit". YouTube. Retrieved 7 May 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  28. ↑ "Nintendo Anti-Palworld Patent and Seeks More". GameRant. 12 Feb 2025. Retrieved 7 May 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  29. ↑ Plunkett, Luke (15 May 2013). "Nintendo Forcing Ads On Some YouTube "Let's Play" Videos". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 7 Jun 2013. Retrieved 22 Mar 2025.
  30. ↑ Orland, Kyle (29 Jan 2015). "Nintendo to share up to 70 percent of ad revenue with game YouTubers". ArsTechnica. Archived from the original on 8 Feb 2015. Retrieved 22 Mar 2025.
  31. ↑ Orland, Kyle (2 Oct 2017). "Nintendo no longer welcoming YouTube livestreams of its games". ArsTechnica. Archived from the original on 4 Oct 2017. Retrieved 22 Mar 2025.
  32. ↑ Orland, Kyle (29 Nov 2018). "Nintendo ends controversial YouTube revenue-sharing program". ArsTechnica. Archived from the original on 30 Nov 2018. Retrieved 22 Mar 2025.
  33. ↑ "Nintendo Game Content Guidelines for Online Video & Image Sharing Platforms". Nintendo. 2 Sep 2024. Archived from the original on 22 Mar 2025. Retrieved 22 Mar 2025.
  34. ↑ "Nintendo Privacy Policy". Nintendo Accounts. Retrieved May 15, 2025.
  35. ↑ "Nintendo Privacy Policy - What's Changed?". Nintendo. Retrieved May 15, 2025.
  36. ↑ "Nintendo Account User Agreement". Nintendo Accounts. Retrieved May 15, 2025.
  37. ↑ Run N Game Entertainment (May 13, 2025). "Is Nintendo breaking the law?". YouTube. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
  38. ↑ Fasho, Kang (May 11, 2025). "The Switch 2 will RUIN Gaming [Full Controversy Explained] (Angry Rant)". YouTube. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
  39. ↑ NintenDeen (May 9, 2025). "Console Bans". YouTube. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
  40. ↑ Nightingale, Ed (May 9, 2025). "Nintendo reserves the right to brick your console following "unauthorised use", in bid to prevent piracy". Eurogamer. Retrieved May 9, 2025.
  41. ↑ Totilo, Stephen (May 8, 2025). "Nintendo warns it may brick Switch systems whose users "bypass, modify, decrypt, defeat, tamper with" their games and services". Game File. Retrieved May 15, 2025.
  42. ↑ Reynolds, Ollie (May 26, 2025). "US Retailers Are Reportedly Starting To Receive Switch 2 Stock". Nintendo Life. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
  43. ↑ 43.0 43.1 Alleexxi (May 27, 2025). "The Nintendo Switch 2 is already in end users' hands. | Switch Locked behind Day 1 Patch". Reddit. Archived from the original on May 27, 2025. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 Kent, Bobby (May 27, 2025). "Nintendo Switch 2 Gets Out Early, But It's Locked Behind A Day 1 Patch". Game Luster. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
  45. ↑ Drake, John (May 27, 2025). "Early Leak of Nintendo Switch 2 Get Locked Out By Day 1 Patch". Guru Gamer. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
  46. ↑ Hagues, Alana (May 27, 2025). "Switch 2 Units Are Allegedly Out In The Wild, But You Might Need An Update For Switch 1 Games". Nintendo Life. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
  47. ↑ FritangaPlays (May 28, 2025). "Over 100 Switch 2 Games That Will Not Work At Launch! OFFICIAL UPDATE". YouTube. Retrieved May 28, 2025.
Retrieved from "https://consumerrights.wiki/index.php?title=Nintendo&oldid=14905"