Switch hacked: unpatchable exploit is a security nightmare for Nintendo

[Azuren]

Ljink96 said:

Azuren said:

Nintendo spent money to run a campaign (backed by numerous developers) to legally ban R4. And there are things you can do about pirates: you can just not be one, and you can report it where you see it.

 

You can only buy R4 in certain regions, and it is banned in several regions. And money made on consoles isn't made on the console itself, it's made from licensing rights on games sold for that platform. Sure, they got the $50-something dollars from selling the unit, but that unit was supposed to carry with it a certain number of game sales. And when it doesn't, that drops their GP%, giving an impression of Switch gamers not actually buying games and contributing to the idea of not developing games for it. It's currently a ludicrous thought, but enough piracy will drive down the desire of producers to fund games on the platform. Everyone loses in piracy. And PSP is actually a great example: it has the third lowest tracked attach ratio on VGChartz.

 

And yeah, there probably won't be one like R4. If we see one, it'll be more akin to what Sony did to the guy that cracked the PS3. As far as "getting my knickers in a bunch", having a platform like the Switch cracked in this way is only a bad thing. Piracy is only months away from running rampant on the first thing Nintendo has found to work  really well since 2007.

 

Also, are you not going to defend the "wasn't going to buy it anyway" rhetoric? Or do you already know it's bogus?

lol, why would I claim my claim is bogus when you don't have any research that proves against it? Being able to hack hardware increases hardware sales but of course, it often means they're not going to buy the software. Just like with PSP, it blew up once it was found that you could hack it, not because consumers were foaming at the mouth to buy PSP software. They're not software consumers that would have benefited Nintendo's bottom line. 

Developing on any hardware is a gamble, you go in knowing at any time the platform could be hacked. Hell, PC developers have to live with this reality every day, it doesn't stop them from releasing games. There are people who will buy the game and those who won't or can't, you can't change their mind, we're not the Nintendo Super Sentai Power Cops, we can't enforce those consumers to do anything. There is a huge subset of gamers that won't purchase even 1 game, but if they can pirate it and they have the desire to pirate it, they most likely weren't going to buy it or aren't loyal customers to the hardware manufacturer. 

Piracy hasn't ruined Nintendo in the past, 3rd party developers still develop on Nintendo hardware, hacked or not. PS4 has been hacked, doesn't mean developers are going to stop developing games on it, it's  a hugely successful platform with tons of customers willing to pay for their games. Using that "Developers are scared" thing is bogus, they've had to deal with this for decades, it's nothing new. And really, reporting pirates? These people aren't running a torrent site, they're pirates who play free games. How are you going to report them? Ask them if they're playing a pirated version of Mario Odyssey and if they say yes, then call the cops? Again, you waste your time trying to stop or protest pirating or hacking, it is going to happen.All you can do is not be one and mind your own business, hypothetically speaking. 

And yeah, the Wii was hacked and people were pirating games...still Nintendo saw record software sales, same with the DS. And again, no, Nintendo won't do what they did to the "PS3 guy" because this is a hardware level hack! It's nobody's fault but Nintendo and Nvidia's They can take down rom hosting sites, but not people who want to void their own warranty by messing around with pins in the Joycon. 

Console industry money isn't made off of hardware, is made off of software licensing for said hardware. If people are pirating games, then Nintendo isn't getting the money they were counting on. I swear to Bob, I'm about to have to make a thread explaining how console manufacturers actually make their money just so I can link people when they argue hardware sales as the end-all. And I like how you continue to dodge the point that people were buying PSPs to hack and pirate, not to buy games and contribute to the platform.

 

On one hand: two relatively unhacked platforms for which it is easy to port and make up the vast majority of the console market (not to mention is easily ported to PC). On the other: totally open having and hyper vulnerable to piracy, not to mention would look dated if ported to other platforms and would lose touchscreen functionality. There's a clear path for investors right now.

 

PS4 has been "hacked"- it can be patched, though. New systems can simply ship with a new firmware, and features can be locked down until users decide to upgrade. What just happened with the Switch is closer to what happened with Pandora Batteries on the PSP in that they are next to impossible to patch away. As a result, it's not scaring investors away from the PS4. And anytime you catch someone using pirated software, you can report it for a reward. Use that reward to buy the game legitimately instead of stealing it. And I gotta stop you at this point and ask are you advocating piracy? Cause if so, we can just stop the conversation here- I don't consort with pirates.

 

The DS sold nearly as much as the PS2 and sold nearly half as many titles. Because Nintendo counted pack-in titles towards their software count on Wii, Wii Sports along makes up for way too much of their software sales. And you can argue what you want, but Nintendo hasn't shied away from going after pirates in the past; no reason for them to stop now.

 

At the end of the day, your arguments in favor of piracy can be easily dismantled by the fact that we can both agree Nintendo knows more about their business than either of us and that they have rabidly gone after piracy in the past. Same with Sony.