UK carriers must block access to Nintendo Switch piracy sites
UK’s top five providers must block access to four websites promoting piracy on the Nintendo Switch. This is reported by the Court of Justice of the United Kingdom. The websites help distribute illegal Switch games and hardware.
The five providers are EE, Sky, BT, Talktalk and Virgin Media. They must block or prevent access to four websites that help distribute illegal Switch games and modified hardware. The websites also distribute information about modifying the Nintendo Switch for piracy purposes.
Two of these websites belong to parties that produce hardware that can bypass the Switch’s security features. The other two websites are sales channels for the illegal devices. The court states that such blockades are effective in reducing piracy, even if they are easy to circumvent.
Stargate, one of the blocked websites
The court points out that there is copyright on parts of the Switch such as the operating system and game software. The soundtrack, images and text from games are also protected by copyright. A Nintendo spokesperson told Eurogamer that they are very happy with the ruling. “This decision will help protect the UK games industry and the more than 1,800 developers who make games for Nintendo Switch.”
Third parties last year found a way to put custom firmware on the Switch, which makes it possible to play illegal games. For now, this is only possible on early versions of the Switch that contain a hardware flaw that makes the consoles hackable. Nintendo closed this leak in 2018, but there are still many consoles with this flaw in circulation. These consoles are permanently hackable. Additionally, custom firmware for current Switch consoles is still being worked on.
Nintendo has taken the necessary steps to combat piracy. For example, the company protects its games with a unique ‘key’. A digital credential verifies whether a console has the rights to a game. If a game is copied, this verification feature will be blacklisted. This allows Nintendo to see if a user is playing an illegal copy of a game and ban the user’s console if necessary. Game consoles that have been banned can no longer use Nintendo’s online services.