At least two members of the Switch hacking community have seen their consoles/accounts banned from Nintendo’s online systems (error code 2124-4007), triggering a fear of massive bans from the Switch scene, and a bunch of “ha, we told you so, you nasty hackers” from some mainstream gaming sites.

Error Code 2124-4007

Hackers ShinyQuagsire and SciresM have recently reported on Twitter that their consoles (and/or accounts) have been banned from accessing Nintendo’s online services, including the eShop. ShinyQuagsire implied that somebody else also got their console banned recently.

Heh, one of my consoles finally got banned.

— Michael (@SciresM) May 22, 2018

Are you at risk of a 2124-4007 ban?

It doesn’t necessarily mean that Nintendo started a massive wave of banhammer on everybody in the scene though.

SciresM and ShinyQuagsire are heavy tinkerers who have been doing lots of hacking experiments on their consoles. As they admit themselves, because Nintendo have multiple ways to detect invalid activity on the console (including for example extensive crash reports that can be sent to their servers), it is unclear which one of their activities (crashes while working on homebrew, downloading content from Nintendo’s servers by non-traditional means, usage of the homebrew loader), or potentially a combination of them, actually triggered the ban.

Bottom line is, unless you’re a hacker heavily involved in doing lots of experiments with your Switch, there’s no proof at the moment that using homebrews or a hacked console will get you banned.

However, and this is true for any console: you have to accept the rules, that a company like Nintendo can choose to ban your console or your account if they have any good reason to believe that you are in breach of their terms and conditions, or if you are threatening their network.

So, unlike mainstream media, I will not tell you to “not hack your favourite systems” (it’s my machine, I’ll do whatever I want with it, thank you very much), however I would personally recommend people who use a hacked console to not access any of Nintendo’s services with it. My personal solution is to keep my hacked consoles off the internet as much as possible (this is what I currently do with my hacked PS4 and Switch), or to block access to the known networks of the manufacturer (Nintendo in this case)

Feel free to mess with your console, but understand the risks. So far, nobody has reported such a ban, except for people who are experimenting with their console on a much larger scale than the typical scene member.

What to do if you get error code 2124-4007 on your Nintendo Switch?

Provided you don’t do something foolish such as accessing the eShop or other Nintendo online services with a hacked (or previously hacked) Switch, you should be fine. If however you face the dreaded error code 2124-4007 on your Nintendo Switch, the only official option for now is to contact Nintendo’s customer support service.