One of the biggest Nintendo Switch piracy sites around has been taken down by the FBI as “part of a law enforcement operation” on Thursday. Nsw2u was one of the better-known repositories for Switch ROMs online, allowing people to play games on hacked Switches or emulators on PC without legally purchasing the games themselves.
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 the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” reads a notice now posted on the site when you visit the url. It says the FIOD, a Dutch agency that investigates financial crimes in the Netherlands, was also involved.
According to users on the Switch Piracy subreddit, the site was still active earlier today, with many claiming to have downloaded games within the last few hours. The NSw2u sites were first added to the EU piracy watchlist back in May of this year. The FBI and Nintendo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Mario maker has been cracking down on Switch piracy over the last few years, including taking legal action against the makers of the popular Yuzu emulator last year that let players run Switch games on PC and PC gaming handhelds like Valve’s Steam Deck. Nintendo has also been pursuing litigation against smaller sites that host ROM downloads for older systems and the makers of third-party devices designed to help players circumvent Switch copyright protections.
The original Switch was hacked early in its life, and ROMs for its top-selling games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom have proliferated online in recent years. That’s led some to speculate that Nintendo has gone to extra lengths to keep the Switch 2 locked down tight. Players using unauthorized SD cards for storing multiple Switch 1 ROMs have already begun finding their new Switch 2 consoles banned from online service shortly after the console launched last month, with Nintendo reserving the right to brick devices that violate its terms of service.
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