Another day, another story of Nintendo stamping down on piracy. As reported by various outlets this morning, Nintendo has won a rather major court case in the Netherlands that states the sale of “devices designed to circumvent Nintendo’s security measures” is unlawful. Specifically, it was targeted at the sale of MIG Switch Cards, which were devices designed to insert into the Switch cartridge slot while supporting a microSD card. The MIG would trick the system into thinking it had legitimate game cards inserted, allowing users to download illegal backups and play them on their consoles without modification.
The case was heard at The Hague District Court in the Netherlands, and it involved a complaint against the online sale of MIG Switch cards. Nintendo asserted that the seller was “dropshipping” devices from Asia and that the devices could be used to get around security measures built into the Switch OS. One key point in Nintendo’s defense was that back in 2010, the company won a ruling in the same Dutch courts regarding R4 cards for the Nintendo DS. Both cases are pretty similar, so it should be a no-brainer that the courts would agree with Nintendo’s assessment.
This new decision has, effectively, made it illegal to sell the MIG Switch and other devices of its ilk in Europe. In a statement to press, Nintendo said the following:
“Nintendo promotes and fosters game development and creativity and strongly supports the game developers who legitimately create new and innovative games. Nintendo’s message to players is to avoid purchasing or using circumvention devices, circumvention software or unauthorized copies of video games, as this increases the risk of interfering with the functionality and experience provided by authentic Nintendo game consoles, video games and systems.”
This isn’t even the first time Nintendo has won a case against distribution of MIG Switch cards. Back in December 2025, Nintendo was awarded $2 million in recompense from seller Ryan Daly and the website Modded Hardware. Daly was outright banned from selling or promoting any kind of piracy device and will be paying back Nintendo for decades to come.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
