Nintendo Switch.jpg

Success in the video game industry is normally followed by rampant piracy, and it’s unfortunate to say the Switch’s current situation is no different.

We’ve heard plenty about Nintendo taking legal action in recent times against websites committing copyright infringement, and now there are reports circulating about individuals bricking their Nintendo Switch systems after downloading and installing fake game piracy software to their devices.

The cracked SX OS software (which, if you've haven't been keeping up, is a paid-for tool which has a countermeasure that prevents it from being used if tampered with) they thought they were downloading was meant to enable them to play illegal copies of the latest games on Nintendo's hybrid device without having to pay Team Xecuter - the maker of SX OS - for the privilege - until they found out it wasn't real and it bricked their systems instead. 

A poster at GBATemp describes the details of the sorry situation, and how to extract yourself from it should you be silly enough to download:

Okay, so not many people are aware of what this payload actually does. It does not replace your entire nand with garbage (that would be a huge waste of time) it just overwrites your gpt and part of your PRODINFO. Due to the fact that your PRODINFO is console specific, there is no way to recover without a NAND backup.

It is a modified gptrestore with three multipliers, making it restore the gpt further into the nand then it is supposed to, all the way to your PRODINFO which causes an unrecoverable brick (Without a NAND backup.) If you have a NAND backup, you can use real gptrestore and hekate to fix your switch by restoring said NAND backup. Everyone else affected by this... You're screwed.

The apparent victims are now debating whether or not to send their systems away to Nintendo, with the company unlikely to assist them due to violation of the terms and conditions. In short, it's a bit of a mess - and a perfectly avoidable one at that.

This acts a reminder that it’s simply not worth the risk when it comes to pirating games on the Nintendo Switch.  

[source nintendosoup.com, via gbatemp.net]