this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2025
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This isn't strictly true because most games do still have a playable version on the disk. What is more is that it's not as straight forward to revoke a disc, especially for passive media and the license is legally transferable due to doctrine of first sale as I understand it.
At least on my Xbox, there's games where it wouldn't let me play them unless some updates were installed. "day one patches" are very common in the video game industry these days.
The first sale doctrine applies to physical goods. The game companies are moving towards the games always being digital goods, and the disc simply being a physical license key for the digital games. I'm not sure if the doctrine would apply in the same way in this case.
This guy gets it.
Except for the fact that Nintendo is doing exactly that on the switch. Physical games have a digital license embedded in the cartridge itself. In this way Nintendo can stop people from ripping games and sharing the backups with friends. With that said be careful when buying used switch games.
Can I put second hand carts in my switch and play? Yes I can.
Yes but if the original owner used the game with cheats/hacks/mods or if they cloned it and multiple people used it at the same time then that game cartridge would get flagged by Nintendo and banned. Maybe your Nintendo account gets banned, maybe the console doesn't allow you to play it, or maybe the game doesn't do online features anymore. Point is Nintendo decides what happens to your physical copy moving forward. At that point do you become an accomplice in getting others in trouble by reselling or take the L? After all it's not like the game looks/feels any different despite being a banned game.
Nope, the game will work regardless of what Nintendo do, though you are right they can kick you off their online platform. That isn't them deciding what happens with your physical copy though that is them deciding who can access their servers for what ever arbitrary reason they decide. In fact if they kick you off, the only games you'll still be able to play are the physical ones.
Dude, physical switch games are encrypted and you have to circumvent this protection in order to play. Such circumvention is illegal by US law (which I don’t like).
The switch itself implements the DRM and can play any official physical game without issue.