DRM on games? Pffft, amateurs. The newest fad is DRM on console hardware.
Your console is not really your console, you don't get to decide if you can use it or not.

Next, Windows PCs?

https://www.gamefile.news/p/nintendo-emulation-hacking-brick-warning-terms-of-service

Thanks Nintendo for introducing me to Roms Lab.

Never had a Nintendo. Do you have to bind an account with your device to make it usable?

It all talks about Nintendo Account Services. But the "applicable Nintendo device" leads me to believe that is the case.

Either way, Nintendo could mail everyone a turd and Nintendrones would still open their wallets instantly. It's probably the most captured audience out there.

This is not new, they have been saying this since the 3DS days.

Also, consoles always had DRM to prevent "copying" and prevent unlicensed developers to create games on console hardware since... the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Why don't we go FOSS and only play DRM-free games on Linux PCs? Or to go even further, only play open source games on Linux PCs with no proprietary code. Or are these DRM-free open source Linux PC games still not owned and not preservable because they are "digital only" and not "physical" :)

At least the first Switch seems to work without internet. Not sure about Switch 2.

I paid attention to suggesting they can make your whole device inoperable, not just your Nintendo account. I guess they have a right to do that, as long as the customers are aware of that and don't start whining when the unthinkable happens, and start some silly "Stop killing Nintendos"-campaigns.

Just shows why we need more people to support places like GOG where we can get DRM free items and actually download and save them.

I am also wondering the same thing. But regarding the Switch, specifically; as this is the Nintendo generation I declined to participate in, and I wonder if anything substantial changed in my absence. Despite not having personal experience, see here:

"Once a Nintendo Account is linked to the user, the console's online features will be available." (i.e. any online game modes or applications that require an internet connection, as well as making digital purchases from the Nintendo eShop). Nintendo have always disliked people making modifications to their consoles. The more digital their consoles have become, the more they have taken measures to prevent this. Quite frankly, their measures and countermeasures preventing console modification have always been lacking and their consoles swiftly defeated. Given this, I can imagine they are rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of a permanently online console where an account tied to either one's real identity or eShop purchases is required for full functionality. This would allow Nintendo to exercise full control and prevent access to as many features as possible should you dare do something they dislike.

The former Nintendo consoles that had potential internet access (DS, 3DS, Wii, WiiU) generally followed the same principle - that no account was required for basic functionality: a user could simply purchase a physical game they wished to play, and do so.
There was always a risk with the 3DS, Wii, and WiiU that the consoles might be bricked in the process of making modifications to them (i.e. installing the homebrew channel), and with Nintendo releasing firmware updates this was doubly so; Nintendo would also decline to make repairs if they believed 3rd party modifications were made. The general practice was to exercise caution and not update the consoles firmware afterwards unless told it was safe to do so.
With the Wii and DS no account was required for any functionality, all online services were available to the user. Purchases and online functionality tended to be linked to the console itself (if you wanted a digital good on more than one console, you were expected to make two purchases.) Starting with the 3DS and Wii U family, a "Nintendo Network ID": a unique identifier associated with an email address, which was required for certain online services. (posting to the Miiverse, playing online with others, making purchases from the eShop*, etc) WiiU only*. Generally speaking, I'm a sad loser with few friends, so making use of the full suite of modifications was trivial and any potential loss of functionality no burden.

I’ve been doing that for more than 15 years now, and there is no way I would go back.
Even with these restrictions, my current collection includes more than 4 000 games. This on the other hand goes too far even for me. No proprietary firmware ⇒ no decent graphics processing power, and while there are more than a couple great open source games, I don’t see myself playing only these for the rest of my life.

We can squabble about the details, but... with the end of life of Win10 this year, and the 'mandatory' ""upgrade"" to Win11 (and all the bull that entails, from tpm to copilot, AI assistance, and so on), that does not feel so entirely different: We control your software and your hardware now. We tell you when it's obsolete. Get with the program, or get out.

So, I got out. Switched to Linux, and it's a weight off my shoulders I didn't know I had held. Thanks to Heroic, most of my GOG library continues to work.

I know that GOG's resources are limited, but if they are looking for a direction to develop in, my hope would be to increase support for Linux. Valve's already doing it, but GOG especially should align easily - freedom from DRM and an open operating system are two sides of the same coin.

The PS5 has had the same restriction since it was released
5 years ago in their EULA. It's not new. Good luck enforcing it though. The EU and several states in the US have laws that prevent you from messing with physical equipment owned privately (thank you John Deere for being such utter pricks).

Heard about this news first in Yong Yea's video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Bti7T5dZGk

Its one more Nintendo's step into thinking they're some kind of divine gaming prophets of pleasure for creating Mario and Metroid against modding, hacking and reverse engineering scene.

They don't care AT ALL for gaming preservation and preserving games that were launched in their consoles, they just care about poor emulating on their newest pay-to-use services. People that think that their prices are because of tariffs just need to learn how economy works. Nintendo's been working this way since the days of Wii. When Wii U and later Switch launched, they started their crusades against the preservation of GameCube and Wii games specially. First shutting down N3DS e-store, making people lose access to hundreds of games forever, to later reveal a small portion of them in their Switch e-store with cheap emulation.

They're literally persecuting everything that is homebrew and emulation related for years and after the Yuzu debacle, they step in deeper against their own clients which want to use legal emulation and homebrew their consoles.
This is not surprising simply because they're like this for years.

They're not "evil all of sudden" - they're trending the DRM market for a while now.
People got scared with the prices thing, It was just a market precedent that every big gaming company has been trying to do for years, but their bad fame deterred their courage.

The next obvious thing would be for them to create a new precedent:
Hardware DRM.

It's no surprise though, again, their latest Switch Firmware updates are allegedly breaking compatibility with mods and newer games are being launched with Firmware DRM specifications, thus, they can't be played on older Firmwares or can't be emulated in the future without said Firmware updates. Search for it, you will see.

It hurts me because I grew up playing Super Mario World, A Link to The Past, and so on. Used to love N64 games too, but dropped Nintendo when Sony's PS2 launched, mostly, as we used to play many PSX and N64 games, but PS2 was just this kind of revolution on the game scene back then, so we opted for PS2 instead of Game Cube. But I hear no less than praises for Game Cube masterpieces like Metroid Prime, even though I've not played it back then.

Nintendo is leading the DRMed Hardware market in ways that not even the automotive market has dared to yet:
To inform they will lock/brick customers physical product through updates after the purchased if they somehow break the EULA. Its madness and pure absurdity. Let us study and talk, again, about the Overton Window and see how big companies are pushing this boundary on purpose...

Its sad, but as others have already said around the internet:

Nintendo customers do not care a bit. Youtubers will still make day 1 content, milk the hype like crazy. Customers will still pre order and play Switch 2, and in 5 to 10 years they will complain they can't play their games anymore, not knowing or understanding necessarily "why this all happened".

A hope lies with the true community and game preservers out there though.
Some of these games will still be preserved through sheer community will and love for good memories and family fun times.

Currently I don't consider that the same thing.

It would be if Windows could decide to brick your PC for doing something Microsoft doesn't approve, so that you couldn't install even Linux on that PC. It would be dead, D-E-D dead!

Realistically I am not expecting that to ever happen to PCs... as long as it is not a PC made by Microsoft. But who knows, these are crazy times, maybe EU will regulate that the officials must be able to brick your electronic devices, including your PC, if they suspect you watch kiddie pr0n or do anything else on it they don't approve. I mean, think of the children! Or rather, DON'T think about them!

Or it shows your age :-p

Na it doesn't show your age, not at all.... now excuse me I have to yell at some kids to get off my lawn.

Well, that's why I wrote "not entirely different". Yeah, not necessarily the same, but similar direction - they're interfering with my ownership in a way I don't tolerate. It's interesting you bring up the EU. They actually have been reprimanded by their data protection office for using Microsoft products - they do not satisfy their own legislation in terms of data protection and privacy.

At the same time, the German government has started moves away from closed-source software and solutions towards open architecture, file standards (one of the first things is to embrace ODF as new standard for digital communications), and digital sovereignty.

Meaning that Linux and open software may be seeing rapid adaption in the next few years in Europe because Microsoft is not a dependable solution any more for us.