A Nintendo Switch modder has been arrested for the first time in Japan, not for emulation, but for pirated games

A 58-year-old man in Japan was taken into custody for selling modified Nintendo Switches with pirated games pre-installed. This is the first such case in the country, despite Nintendo’s recent statement that the use of emulators is itself legal.

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The suspect, Fumihiro Otobe, an employee of a transport company in the city of Ryugasaki, is accused of modifying the consoles at the hardware level and reselling them for 28,000 yen (about $180). According to TechSpot, each console came pre-installed with 27 pirated games. During the search, four such devices were confiscated from the man, and during interrogation he admitted: “I was just wondering if people would think of me as a cool modder if I sold modified consoles.”

This is the first time that Nintendo has not limited itself to a civil lawsuit, but began to seek criminal liability, considering that such actions of modifying the console and bypassing security mechanisms in order to install pirated games violate copyright laws, which likely became the basis for the arrest of the seller .

The Japanese press also links this precedent to the activities of emulator developers such as Yuzu, which Nintendo considers part of the pirate ecosystem. According to company representatives, emulator developers not only bypass game protection, but also contribute to the spread of illegal content. In Japan, this is considered a violation of intellectual property laws and causes a harsh response from law enforcement agencies.

Otobe’s situation is reminiscent of similar problems Nintendo faces in other countries. For example, previously in the US, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against Modded Hardware, which sold hacked Switch consoles, flash cards and security reset devices. In this case, Nintendo also focused on the distribution of consoles with pirated games pre-installed.

As TechSpot notes, experts associate Nintendo’s intensifying fight against modders with preparations for the release of Switch 2. The new console, which will receive an improved screen and more powerful graphics capabilities, has been officially announced, but the release date is still unknown. Details are expected to be revealed in April.