Following in the footsteps of the PlayStation 5, the Switch 2 has officially been jailbroken by persistent users (and a hefty dose of AI, perhaps unsurprisingly).
An anonymous – understandably – online user who goes by the name of "pepsipu" reveals as much over on X, explaining that they "jailbroke" the Nintendo Switch 2. And, of course, the first thing they did was mod in the likes of Sanrio's Cinnamoroll, Family Guy's Peter Griffin, and the ever-iconic Hatsune Miku into Mario Kart World.
While we won't fully get into how they managed to do it, put simply, it involved getting help from OpenAI and using SmileBASIC 4 – a $25 program on the eShop that serves as a game-building tool.
It's likely that Nintendo will act fast and take the software down as the jailbreak continues to make rounds online. It's also important to note that the jailbreak itself is tethered, which means it's lost every shutdown.
As interesting as it all is, it's also upset a portion of the Switch 2 user base.
One person comments, "Thanks for destroying the livelihoods of creative artists" – a valid concern, especially when considering indie games, I suppose.
There are also various replies expressing concerns about the use of AI and whether it will lead to leaks before releases, as it did on the original Nintendo Switch.
Honestly, there's no telling what will happen. It's not super accessible for casual jailbreakers just yet, anyway, seeing as it's tethered and reliant on software I doubt Nintendo will keep up for long, but it's also opened the door to hacking the console, which is a big deal in itself.
It's happening right as all of the PS5 jailbreaking hits its high, too, with hacking seemingly at the forefront of many gamers' minds as companies move to digital copies presses on.
For now, I think I'll personally steer clear of AI-powered hacks and the like – a lot could go wrong, and I wouldn't fork out $25 for the possibility.
Searching for some new games to play? Browse through our roundup of the best upcoming Switch 2 games to wishlist right now.
