It Is Now Illegal To Sell Unauthorised Game Keys In Japan, Save File Editors Also Banned

RIP Action Replays
Remember using an Action Replay Pro on Earthworm Jim on SNES and trying to get it so that you had infinite power gun and lives. Took a while but finally got the right code. Was great fun.

Used to be i used Gameshark, Action Replay to cheat some PS1 & PS2 games.
But NOT anymore.
I removed All my pirated games including Gameshark, Action Replay CD.

From a Splatoon perspective, this may mean 'less cheating', at least by Japanese players, but it'll still happen. Laws are there to be broken etc etc.

Just how in the world they will enforce these bans is anyone's guess, but clearly it should be illegal to receive money for unauthorized software keys.

Creating and giving them away for free is already a grey area. Charging for it is blatant profiteering.

I can get the last two points, since someone it's profiting from another's work in a way (though I have some issues with them still). But the first one is just baffling if I bought a game i can do whatever I want with it. If I want to mess with my save file it's up to me as long as is not messing with other people online . The other issue is that this is unenforceable, how will anyone know if i get a level 100 shiny Mewtwo with perfect IVs and never use it online?

This seems like law makers overreaching to fix another problem because they don't really understand the core topic. My guess is that they want to try and stop data mining.

i've always use cheats/save editors in single player games only. imo people who use cheats into online multiplayer games deserves to be banned for it though. (my options on modding consoles is the same as saves editing)

@macalao914 I hear what you're saying, but not all of us will be fair.

I can't see how they'll enforce this though, unless they try to make save data server sided, which would be awful.

@Tsurii
That makes sense. We have tons of butter-clauses like that for so many other things.

It'd be nice if this "unfair competition act" could ban developers from engaging in playtime slavery practices and permanently missable event items.

I was the coolest kid at school in 1996 with my game genie and action replays. Sad.

How will they enforce this? Overall, this appears to be total overreach. But I don’t live in Japan, maybe they enjoy a more big daddy government that tells them how their purchases of goods & products should be enjoyed.

Meh... SaveWizard is based in HK. And their markets are EU, CN and USA

https://www.savewizard.net

They do not even list JP save codes. Good thing I live in the West 👍

And CDKeys are based in the EU... they sell Global 2nd hand keys. So the big guys keep doing what they do and the kid trying to sell some key they do not want get shafted. Brilliant!

https://www.cdkeys.com

This is as useless as Nintendo taking down ROM sites.

Sooooo, how will they will know for sure some is using a save game editor? (other than obvious hacking things; I mean things that can be done to make them look they were legitimately obtained)

They don't care if you are editing it for old systems/consoles, they just don't want people doing it with relevant stuff.

@Aozz101x This is why I always wait until the new systems come out to hack my old ones, I never save game edit though, that ruins the fun of playing the game.

@Kalmaro it's heading that way at this point, locking a save to a server and paying a yearly fee is more profitable for them and you can't do anything with them, it works in their favour.

gonna enjoy save wizard while i still can, for now anyway.

@Aozz101x same here, i only use it to cut out grindy games, i don't get a lot of time to game these days, a lot of people jump to conclusions quickly and think the worst of you for even mentioning it though.

Why don't they just give corporations the power to arrest and imprison people?

@huyi On paper it's a fantastic idea... For them

Too bad the gamers suffer.

It's illegal. Then again laws there there to be broken. Sometimes you get news sites, even outside of Japan that posts direct links to ROMs and other pirated content, just for article clicksWhat happens to those sites? They are still running and are even rewarded with links to said company. All cool as long as company gets exposure in long run.

Illegal in Japan, perhaps. I think they'd have a very hard time enforcing their law for save data programs sold/offered outside of Japan.

Selling unauthorised serial numbers has always been illegal anyway in most western countries. But I don't see how this is going to affect the usual Russian game key selling sites.

Oh well, sucks for cheaters. Thank God, for no more cheaters. Goodbye, Action Replay cheat codes.

I never understood or even tolerated cheaters and pirates so, for me, it was about time it was made illegal (not that it will prevent anything anyway though).

This is not about overlords or “daddy” governments like some comments up there say, it’s about preventing unfair use (online games cheaters) and stop people from profiting from products they don’t own (serial key sellers). It’s a perfectly logical and welcome rule.

I make my living selling products I make so I’m very biased because I understand first hand what is like people stealing your hard work. Obviously, kids who’ve got no idea what all this is really about and only care about themselves will find that these laws come from “overlords”.

|sf>Back in the pre-Playstation era, I also used to do Game Genie coding, often on Gameboy & Game Gear titles that didn't have battery back-ups. I didn't do it to "cheat"--they were experiments to see how a code could change the game. (Sometimes it was simple things like changing the sound pitch on a sound effect.) It was a way of getting some extra value out of games I'd beaten/gotten stuck in/grown bored of. On rare occasions I even found ways to access levels that were normally inaccessible.

Granted, games were offline, single player, and obviously didn't have leaderboards. After Game Genie went away, I couldn't get into coding for Action Replay because it was much less user friendly.

These days games come out so frequently that it's difficult to keep up with all the games a person buys.

@Yorumi

Why? You don't own the game; you're messing with someone else's product that you've paid a license to use a copy, always subject to the software owner's discretion.

Think of it this way: If I hacked Pokémon Ultra Sun to get a Zeraora, I'm costing Gamestop business when they provide that Zeraora download key. We don't have a right to the underlying source coding, just a right to use the game as presented to use at purchase.

This is a common misunderstanding that many people on the internet don't seem to understand. Software is subject to all that fine print you get when you buy it. If it doesn't welcome you to open it up and check out what's inside, then you're undermining the owner of the software by doing so. And that's something that can and will, in many cases in Japan now, be punished.

This is a long-overdue enforcement of the product license and use regulations.

@Yorumi The real problem here is not the save files but the selling of serial keys, and that’s what concerns me.
I don’t care about people messing with their saves unless it ends up affecting other players (which in most cases, that’s exactly what happens).
And the only thing you own is a license to play the game as it is. You don’t own the game itself and its underlying code.

That'll work. All cheating issues solved. Go home and have a drink.

Idiots.

I suspect theres limited translation issues here. Even in Japan, making it illegal to edit your own files makes little sense.... This language may be imprecise and oriented to the editing of server oriented data for online games... Particularly MMOs more than, say, Splatoon where enforcing such a law makes less than zero economic sense. In mmo/mtx edit cases, money is being manipulated.

Similarly, banning key sales i doubt means cdkeys and playasia... i can't imagine they are making illegal retailing valid merchandise while not a company authorized dealer.... That doesn't fit into criminal law, even in Japan. I suspect this law is referring to selling pirated, stolen, or counterfeit keys which was probably not clearly covered in existing physical merchandise oriented laws. Making a law criminalizing selling merchandise while not an authorized dealer would have massive ripple effect throughout the retail economy in Japan..... It's exceptionally doubtful that's actually the meaning of the full text of this legislation.

Modifying your own saves is illegal? That's quite totalitarian.

@maruse And the only thing you own is a license to play the game as it is. You don’t own the game itself and its underlying code.

Well no, you own your copy (if it's a physical copy) and you can resell it, give it away or trash it.Corporations sure have you fooled. They SELL you a product and then they convince you that you don't own it.

Of course if you BUY digital then it really is a full price, long term rental. That doesn't apply to people who buy physical.

This makes sense in the context of online gaming. I don't see how offline, single player can be enforced, let alone would they care. The issue coming into play though, is that online gaming generates revenue. Just look at Esports. It's the same as juicing for a sports competition. Those cheaters most certainly should receive consequences. That aside, cheaters in general ruin the online multiplayer experience.

If you want to edit your offline files, who's to stop you? Have a ball, just don't bring THAT ball into the court.

Only in Japan, video games are part of their school curriculum so no cheating.

I agree with the ban on unauthorized keys. That is piracy, and theft.

But I don't think the government has any place telling people not to cheat in video games. I hate cheating in games. I think cheating in games like Pokemon and Splatoon have really hurt the fun and enjoyment of many people. BUT the government shouldn't be enforcing anti-cheating rules in games. That should be up to the game makers, competition organizers, and players themselves.

I understand and agree with the second point "Selling serial numbers or product keys that are unauthorised by the maker of the software in online auctions", but the other ones seem really harsh and unfair imo.
I miss so much the times when online multiplayer didn't exist and there were no controversies at all about cheating.
It already happened to me to find some games that are too hardfor me but I like them anyway (Maldita Castilla and Lords of the fallen for example) and cheats can help you enjoying games that you would like to enjoy but just can't.
I rembember how much fun I had with Vice city thanks to the cheats. I spent almost 90% of the time with that game cheating and I wouldn't have played it so much and had so much fun without cheats (I was not very good at it and it was also too fast for me I had to slow it down to have fun, probably because I was not good at it).
All this boring online crap is only making us unable to enjoy games as we want like we did in the past.
Our fruition of games gets more and more limited everytime but people still like to fight each other online in boring and repetitive matches instead of being able to enjoy their games in the fullest and most versatile way possible.
I just don't understand people. I'm glad that I'm not like that.

@macalao914 It's not illegal to use save editors, just to produce and distribute them. This is enforcable by banning the future sales of all such devices. It doesn't stop anyone from using ones they aleady have, but over time it should cut down on save file editing by mostly preventing any new costumers from aquiring such devices.

@Yorumi The issue with the serial keys is that someone buying one online has no way of knowing if it's real or fake until they buy it and try it out. Therefore, they have to ban all such sales in order to block the fake ones.

Of course, this only affects unauthorized keys. If it's somehow been authorized, then there's no problem, and as such it's still legal to sell them.

@Crono1973 If you buy digital, you likewise still own the game. You just can't sell it used. As long as you keep your data backed up, you don't have to ever worry about losing access to it.

@LuckyLand But if online multiplayer didn't exist, some companies like Blizzard would go out of business. Plus, I think online multiplayer helps people from around the world connect to each other.

...But knowing you, you think this is some sort of scam. Figures you would say something like that with your insane conspiracy theories and trolling behavior.

@Alantor28 They could make local multiplayer games... or single player games, if they are good enough to create something that is entertaining enough by itself without the need of more players.
I don't even like games made by Blizzard anyway and multiplayer games usually are more repetitive and boring than single player games. I really don't understand why people like competitive games so much. Online gaming imo is the most uninteresting way to play games. At least when you play local multiplayer you actually are near your friends and you have fun with them. I still prefer single player anyway.

Anyway, I don't think that online gaming is a scam in itself, but I think that if a company want to scam their customers then online gaming give them more and easier ways to do so.

It is just another bad thing about it, but I'm not saying that companies always take advantage of that.

@LuckyLand ...Yeah, you're full of it. And you're in the miniority while the majority of us love playing online multiplayer.

@BulbasaurusRex Are Switch games not tied to the console?

@Folkloner .. no sir, I strongly suggest you don't break the law in Japan. BREXIT !

@Yorumi

Actually, you're wrong. Even a cursory read of the relevant U.S. Copyright laws will tell you everything you need to know. You are paying for a license to use. You are not paying for ownership of a copy of the software.

I recommend this guide: https://wustl.edu/about/compliance-policies/computers-internet-policies/legal-ethical-software-use/

Of course, Japanese law differs from U.S. law differs from EU law differs from U.K. law (or at least will when the U.K. fully leaves) differs from Canada law, etc.

But in U.S. law, you absolutely do NOT own the software you buy.

SCOTUS case Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons allows you to resell items that you bought and purchased. However, how that SCOTUS case does not cover digital media and software. Per the federal court of the Southern District of New York case, Capitol Records LLC vs ReDigi Inc, you CANNOT resell your digital products.

So while you can resell game disks or carts that you bought to GameStop, you cannot rip the data and sell that data. Nor can you sell digital games you purchased second hand.

This is why Nintendo and other video game companies want to move wholly toward digital distribution of software: because the law and the product market cuts out the middle-men companies like GameStop and Best Buy and prevents others from profiting from resales of their IP.

@Yorumi The sledgehammer is necessary, as simply reporting the fakes after the fact doesn't keep those consumers from getting ripped off first. Besides, beuracracy as it is makes the investigation of every minor complaint issued one at a time very hard to enforce.

@Crono1973 Yes, but Nintendo will transfer your account to a new console if your old one is broken, lost, or stolen. Eventually, they'll get their act together and allow for account transfers without needing to use Nintendo themselves as an intermediary.

@marandahir Just because you can't resell digital products doesn't mean you don't still own your own copy. Resellability has little to do with the concept of ownership. As you said, digital products weren't even covered by that Supreme Court ruling, so they currently fall under a blind spot in U.S. law. As Yorumi said, if it ever does become an issue, new laws will be made to cover that blind spot to allow digital ownership without resellability.

Also, you certainly are legally allowed to rip your own digital purchases just as long as you don't distribute them. It's the one case of ROM ownership that's explicitly allowed even by Nintendo's (and others') EULA.

@BulbasaurusRex You still have to be able to redownload your games on the new console and that won't be possible if the digital store is closed. Wii store closes in 2019.