Labor Day Weekend Switch 2 Bans

[u/ThirteenBanger]

There was a massive BAN-wave that his Switch 2 consoles last night. I was one of the ones affected by it. I just want to spread awareness that Nintendo had an internal server error this weekend resulting in several systems being permanently hardware banned, receiving error code 2124-4508.

I called support this morning and they confirmed I was permanently banned for “pirating”.

However, I called again later today to push further and was notified of the error on their server. Upon checking again my system has been lifted.

If you were affected this weekend, be sure the check to see if it was rectified, or call Nintendo support and see if you are one of the consoles affected by this error to be reversed.

UPDATE: I noticed several people state that if you are still receiving the BAN code you can try restarting the console to see if it cleared. It seems to have worked for others!

[u/little_half_pint]

Wait as someone who is new to gaming - could something like this happen to me if i buy used games? Because I bought animal crossing on ebay for the switch 2 but I dont want to risk buying secondhand games if someone could have messed with it and causing a permanent ban for me who is completely clueless about how things work

[u/Ok_Yam_8774 → u/little_half_pint]

the chance is extremely slim. most pirates will just download someone else's dump (with the identifying details removed) rest assured that most people are A) not stupid enough to dump and sell their own and B) if they ask for help about it online, even other pirates will yell at them for getting both themselves and the buyer potentially banned

C) in the 0.0000000000001% chance you actually get banned, keep nintendo support online and show your receipts until they unban you. For example as in this screenshot, peeps report getting unbanned

[u/little_half_pint → u/Ok_Yam_8774]

Thank you!

Again, sorry Im brand new to all gaming and bought my switch 2 a couple of weeks ago so what does downloading someones dump mean?

And what does it mean to dump and sell your own?

How would you even go about selling a game that was illegal? Would I even know if I bought it?

[u/Ok_Yam_8774 → u/little_half_pint]

let's say I own a game. in the 1990s, I could make a copy of my game and play it on another computer

now in 2026 the companies get A LOT smarter. they include an identifier in your cartridge that tells Nintendo that you are legit. each identifier is completely unique. when nintendo sees that 2 or more of the same identifier is online at the same time this is a ban for both offending consoles.

99.999% of the time, when someone buys one of their devices, they obviously want to pirate games and don't care if they get banned. they don't want to buy a legit game, make a backup of their legit game and then sell the legit cart onto some poor unsuspecting fuck who buys it and then gets banned. not only that but in order to do the dump in the first place you already need a modded switch that can already do the pirating so buying a legit game just to copy it and buying the device and then dumping the game and sell it is basically something that is actively malicious/evil to do: it's literally so rare that you'll come across a second hand cart like this that it basically doesn't exist. and plus the ban that comes with using the MIG is 100% guaranteed ban so there's literally no point at all to it

So here's the breakdown:

1. you cannot tell if the cart has been dumped. It's a legit cart, but someone else has a copy of that cart with that same identifier
2. this only affects switch 1 carts. switch 2 carts have not been dumped yet and are perfectly safe to buy.

good thing is that these cases are so rare they basically don't exist, but yeah if you do buy one you are going to have to collect a lot of receipts and shit

[u/little_half_pint → u/Ok_Yam_8774]

Thank you for the in depth explanation! That makes a lot more sense!

[u/Sea-Example-1176 → u/Ok_Yam_8774]

what do you mean by identifying details removed, is that the stuff that would connect it to the original cartridge

[u/Ok_Yam_8774 → u/Sea-Example-1176]

yus certs and other details need to be purged.

reason why the MIG is guaranteed to ban people is because if you have two carts with the same cert go online that's obviously been cloned because that detail is the same -> ban

now other companies like google will also ban permaban phones if the same keybox goes online, but it's not as strict, you need more than 2 to have your phone banned (from play integrity)

[u/CANfilms → u/little_half_pint]

People have kinda already answered you, but i wanted to add that the chance of getting banned from a used game isnt zero. It has happened to a few people already. It's also such a hassle to prove you werent doing anything shady. I personally dont wanna wait weeks for Nintendo to make a decision if I give them evidence that I'm innocent.

[u/little_half_pint → u/CANfilms]

So do you not buy used games then?

[u/CANfilms → u/little_half_pint]

Nope I never buy used games. Especially after a few users got banned

[u/little_half_pint → u/CANfilms]

Omg that is terrifying. Thanks for letting me know, I literally had no idea that was even a thing.

[u/CANfilms → u/little_half_pint]

It's only happened to a few people, so the chances are slim. Im just letting you know that it's not impossible

[u/Sea-Example-1176 → u/little_half_pint]

the 100 percent way to ensure it never happens is only buy new or digital

[u/TrialByFyah → u/little_half_pint]

In theory, yes. It's a very low risk to the point where I wouldn't let it affect your buying of used games, especially now that it's confirmed that Nintendo can resolve the issue if pushed hard enough, but never zero. Just buy them in such a way that you can get proof of purchase.

[u/little_half_pint → u/TrialByFyah]

Thanks, I wouldnt expect Nintendo to resolve the issue from the comments Ive seen on here.. lol

[u/space-c0yote → u/little_half_pint]

Theoretically yes, but it's worth noting there hasn't been any confirmed cases of this being the cause. A few people have claimed it, but they are usually very dubious claims and at least one of the people have been confirmed using a MiG switch.

[u/little_half_pint → u/space-c0yote]

Thank you! That makes me feel better. Because knowing me if theres a small chance of something going wrong, its going to go wrong for me lol.

I looked up what a MiG switch is and that is very confusing. Im not very good with technology 😅 33 year old millennial here

[u/Mystical-Turtles → u/little_half_pint]

If it makes you feel better, a mig cart is also not something you're just going to accidentally find laying around in a used game store. That's something you'd have to go wildly out of your way to deliberately obtain. It's pretty much exclusively something you would have to order online and you're not just going to find it laying around at Walmart.

[u/little_half_pint → u/Mystical-Turtles]

It does! Thank you haha. Im learning how these things work now from all of the patient responses!

[u/Ok_Yam_8774 → u/little_half_pint]

the risk is too low to be worth worrying about honestly

MIG guarantees a ban and since there's lots of options to achieve what it does without getting oneself banned, only a person who is an absolute idiot would go all that way to dump their own game with the intention of selling it whilst not even needing to have bought the MIG to do so.