Modifying Your Game Console and Any Game Saves You Have Is Now Illegal In Japan - Meanwhile, Chinese bootleggers are just pointing and laughing at them.

[Archeops]

I didn't find this with the search function, so here we go.

https://nintendosoup.com/you-can-now-go-to-jail-for-hacking-your-nintendo-switch-in-japan/ (Archive: http://archive.vn/lg8zx)
Source cited by artice: http://www2.accsjp.or.jp/activities/2018/pr6.php

YOU CAN NOW GO TO JAIL FOR HACKING YOUR NINTENDO SWITCH IN JAPAN
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If you’re living in Japan and modifying save data on Nintendo Switch, you’d probably want to stop whatever you’re doing right now.

Japanese lawmakers have recently passed an amendment to the Unfair Competition Prevention Law. The amendment, in layman’s terms, has made the modification of video game save data illegal in Japan.

The law not only affects entities which are offering a service to modify save data, but also affects individuals who hack their own save data. Offering services to modify (modding) video game systems, including Nintendo Switch, has also been made illegal. Also affected are cheating programs and save data modification tools that are currently being offered by Cyber Gadget in Japan.

This means modifying save data of popular video games such as Splatoon 2, Pokemon Let’s GO Pikachu/Eevee, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate could put you in jail.

If found guilty, the offender may have to pay damages to the the companies which produced the software, and may have to serve a prison sentence of no more than 5 years, pay a fine of no more than 5,000,000 yen (USD45,820), or both.

I can see why this is just starting to come out (the rise in e-sports popularity being one of 'em) but it'll be difficult to enforce outside of banning the sales of tools like Action Replays and the previously-mentioned Cyber Gadget and monitoring online activity if you ask me. Let's just cross our fingers that laws like this don't expand outside of Japan.

Also, one thing people have noticed is that the amendment and translations are vague on emulators so there's a chance unauthorized emulators are now illegal in Japan as well.

 

[NOT Sword Fighter Super]

Wow...what an exceptional law.

 

[Crocophile]

Nintendo strong-arming their way into politics? Who saw that coming? I for one look forward to Prime Minister Reggie.

Also wonder if this effects Capture Cards? I know for handhelds they need to modify the console itself to be able to capture gameplay. Guess that'll suck for streamers.

 

[RadicalCentrist]

Offering services to modify (modding) video game systems, including Nintendo Switch, has also been made illegal....
Also, one thing people have noticed is that the amendment and translations are vague on emulators so there's a chance unauthorized emulators are now illegal in Japan as well.

Wow. So you may have bought a physical device but you have no rights to look inside or w/e. The natural evolution of the "games as a service" "business model." (In actuality legalistic cuckoldry)

 

[REGENDarySumanai]

This is clearly the dumbest law in existence. What if one of the innards goes to the shitters and you have to replace it? Is that illegal? Does the vagueness of the law make fixing your console illegal?

 

[The Last Stand]

The wording of this is strange. Does this apply to older consoles or PC modding? I can see this as a slippery slope if not worded properly.

 

[wylfım]

The wording of this is strange. Does this apply to older consoles or PC modding? I can see this as a slippery slope if not worded properly.

I can see this as a slippery slope even IF worded properly

 

[Crocophile]

This is clearly the dumbest law in existence. What if one of the innards goes to the shitters and you have to replace it? Is that illegal? Does the vagueness of the law make fixing your console illegal?

Your console better still be under warranty fuckboy, or else you're buying a new one. Bribing Sakurai to make Smash DLC isn't cheap.

 

[Sergeant Politeness]

I know nothing about laws outside of the US, but is this even enforceable?

 

[dunbrine47]

So: "Please Understand, you're under arrest"?

 

[Orkeosaurus]

This is what happens when an entire country refuses to use anything but their own country's gaming products.

The wording of this is strange. Does this apply to older consoles or PC modding? I can see this as a slippery slope if not worded properly.

What would PC modding even mean in that context? The Japanese don't really have a PC gaming culture anyway.

 

[Coconut Gun]

This is really up there in terms of all-time most unenforceable laws.

 

[Crocophile]

I know nothing about laws outside of the US, but is this even enforceable?

Maybe? Depends. Like OP said with e-sports being a big thing, they might be checking your hardware for tampering and bust your ass wide open if you get caught. I could see something like that going down, but that would be only if you were an e-athlete, or whatever. For a normie user even if they can detect a hacked switch and flag your account it's not like they can do much with that info.

And I cannot imagine there is a way to detect if you altered a save on a video game. Even if it's very obviously hacked, I don't think you would be able to prove that save editing was the cause. What if I wondertrade an obviously hacked Pokemon to some 5 year old in Japan? Are they gonna throw him in jail with gangsters that cut off their fingers? Probably not.

 

[Lackadaisy]

What if I wondertrade an obviously hacked Pokemon to some 5 year old in Japan? Are they gonna throw him in jail with gangsters that cut off their fingers?

It's like the origin of a super villain. "Half Hand" Hitoshi.

 

[Crippled_Retard]

You have to have fun our way.

 

[Red Hood]

Wow. So you may have bought a physical device but you have no rights to look inside or w/e. The natural evolution of the "games as a service" "business model." (In actuality legalistic cuckoldry)

Manufacturers are usually the ones doing this instead of governments. Some auto manufacturers consider your warranty void if you so much as change your own oil or air filters.

 

[Otis Boi]

Manufacturers are usually the ones doing this instead of governments. Some auto manufacturers consider your warranty void if you so much as change your own oil or air filters.

Alot of the times that dosen't hold up in court. Same thing with those "Void if removed Stickers"

 

[Slap47]

Japan is probably the only major westernized country that whores out to corporations more than the USA.

 

[Pervious]

Not being able to modify something you own is already exceptional, but not being able to modify something you create goes above and beyondu. Does this mean that loading a save and continuing the game is now illegal?

 

[Red Hood]

Alot of the times that dosen't hold up in court. Same thing with those "Void if removed Stickers"

I probably should have qualified that with "Or so I'd heard".