A few days after the first Nintendo Switch 2 jailbreak, when hackers were left modding and dumping games, Nintendo releasedfirmware 23.5.0 this week, which effectively put the jailbreak out of commission, as game exploits like SmileBASIC and Civilization VII were prevented from escaping the game’s environment, thus significantly reducing what could be achieved on the system. However, it seems Nintendo has no intention of letting users run the exploit at all, as it is reportedly preventing these two games from launching on older firmware.
“Multiple users on 23.0.1 are reporting supernag on SmileBASIC 4 and Civilization VII. This means Nintendo is blocking launching these titles altogether, and forcing users to update to 23.5.0 to use them. Unlike regular nag, this cannot be cleared by entering Maintenance Mode,” reads a new post on theSwitch2hacks subreddit. As such, the only way to keep using these exploits is to take the system offline.
Considering how quickly information about the first Nintendo Switch 2 jailbreak spread far and wide, it’s not surprising to see Nintendo tackle the issue as severely as it could. And there’s a good reason why the Japanese company has decided to crack down on the available exploits so much. According to reports, the production keys in the latest 23.5.0 firmware haven’t changed, so upcoming physical games on cartridge could still be dumped and played on PC emulators until they are.
With Metroid Ravenous launching in January, the ability to dump games using the first Nintendo Switch 2 jailbreak on older firmware wouldn’t have lasted much longer, but the Japanese company is clearly not taking any chances. Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake still managed to sell 5 million units in just 4 days even with playable PC versions, but if piracy starts running rampant on the system, other games could have trouble selling just as well.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack.
After joining the Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi “Suda51” Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA’s president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3.
When he’s not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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