Nintendo strikes hard on Pokémon Sun and Moon pirates

As of a few days ago, a pirate ROM of Pokémon Sun and Moon has been surfing the net. Some users decide to download the file, play the story mode and even go online to compete against each other on the gorgeous Battle Royale mode. They didn't care about the release date and so they became easy targets for Nintendo.

Many players around the world are complaining for being banned from Nintendo Network services after playing online with the unlicensed ROM. Messages gathered by Kotaku indicate that they are not just banned for playing Pokémon, but they can't access the eShop or any online service anymore. That means that these users have lost every online game they bought before from this account.

Nintendo has shared a statement, saying the punishment is not related to Pokémon Sun and Moon in particular but will apply to everybody with an unlicensed copy like that. They have the following to say:

"As a result of a number of Nintendo 3DS users using unauthorised versions of several games, and connecting to the official game servers in violation of our terms of service, these users' Nintendo 3DS systems that stored the unauthorised game code have been banned from Nintendo's online network effective immediately."

Would you risk your account to play a game for free?