The "Switch" modification case has been busted! Who was taking risks behind those 45 consoles?

Whenever I see news like this, I think of a very typical gamer misconception: people always treat “being able to play more games” as a shortcut, while ignoring that this path has been skirting the red line from the very beginning.

According to Japanese media reports, before the 19th, Kyoto Prefectural Police in Japan referred four men to prosecutors on suspicion of violating trademark law. Police determined that from March to May last year, they illegally modified Nintendo’s Switch consoles so the devices could run pirated games, and then sold the modified machines to buyers in Tokyo, Aichi, and other areas. The case came to light after Nintendo reported to police in March last year that modified Switch consoles were being sold online.

This case most closely resembles the kind of RPG side quest that starts as “a seemingly small hustle” but gradually turns into a full party operation. Police investigations showed that the four had clear divisions of labor: a 31-year-old man from Okayama Prefecture was seen as the ringleader, responsible for recruiting and organizing; a 24-year-old company employee handled social media and website operations to attract customers; the other two—a 19-year-old unemployed man from Tokyo and an 18-year-old male high school student from Yokohama—were responsible for modifying the consoles and shipping them.

The numbers are not outrageous, but they are already enough to constitute a problem. Police said the group modified at least 45 consoles, about 15 of which had already been sold, with total sales of roughly 600,000 to 900,000 yen, equivalent to about 26,000 to 40,000 RMB. More tellingly, all four admitted the facts during the investigation, and their motive was as straightforward as it gets: they just wanted to “make some pocket money.”

But in reality, this kind of “pocket money script” is often the worst bargain. Because it harms not only the legitimate market, but also drags buyers into the risk zone. For ordinary players, the biggest pitfall of buying a modified Switch is not that it is “cheap,” but that everything afterward becomes uncontrollable: account, system, after-sales service, online environment—if any link goes wrong, the one who ultimately pays the price is still the player.

From an industry perspective, cases like this actually send a very clear signal: platform holders are no longer focusing only on the technical side when tracking down console modification and piracy chains; they are also sweeping up sales, traffic diversion, shipping, and every other part of the process. This time, Nintendo’s path—from spotting online sales to pushing for a police investigation—was very clear, and it also shows that rights protection within the console ecosystem will move increasingly further upstream.

If you are considering buying a Switch recently, my advice is simple: it is better to buy a legitimate used unit, an official refurbished unit, or wait for a promotion through a reliable channel than to touch a “heavily modded version” from an unknown source. On the surface it may look like a bargain, but in reality it is more like giving yourself a hidden debuff. For players, the most worry-free piece of gear is never the flashiest one, but the machine that lets you enter the next map with peace of mind.