NWS2U.com, one of the biggest and most popular websites for downloading pirated Switch games, has been taken down by U.S. authorities. This was one of the go-to places for gamers to download titles without needing to pay for them and install them on hacked Nintendo Switch consoles or emulators. If you go to the page today, you’ll see that an announcement has replaced its homepage with the logos of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD).
The warning says, “This domain has been seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in accordance with a seizure warrant issued pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § § 2323 issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia as part of a law enforcement operation and action by: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD).” As a result, would-be pirates would have a harder time finding ROMs they can use on their jailbroken Switches or PC and phone emulators.
Nintendo is infamously known for strictly guarding its intellectual property, even to the point that it bans users caught using Mig Flash, even though they’re using their ROMs. The gaming giant even blocked third-party USB-C hubs from connecting with the Switch 2, with only the official Nintendo Switch 2 Dock and the Antank S3 Max TV Dock, also sold as the SIWIQU TV Dock Station on Amazon, currently the only ones working with the new console. However, the latter is in danger of becoming unsupported if Nintendo blocks it with a firmware update. This has gotten to the point that the Brazilian government took notice and is challenging the restrictive clauses in its End-User License Agreement. Thankfully, the gaming giant is quite forgiving about its ban, especially to those who can prove they were innocent victims of a scam or piracy.
The Switch 2 has been quite a hit so far, outselling the original Nintendo Switch’s first-month sales record by over a million units during its opening weekend. It is understandable for the company to be extremely protective of its game titles, especially as many gamers stay on the platform for its exclusives. After all, even though the Switch 2 is quite an upgrade from the original and is a highly optimized platform, it still does not have the raw power of some of its older x86-based competitors like the Steam Deck and the ROG Ally X.
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