I’m sure you’ve seen by now that I’ve been arranging interviews with developers of various Linux and Steam Deck programs and projects, done in a question-and-answer style, and posting them here to Lemmy.

These have mostly been with personal friends of mine. Projects like Heroic, Lutris, RomM Project, Junk Store and so on. My idea for these is to give you all a peek behind the curtain (so to speak) as to who is behind the projects you know and love - but this time the interviewee and content is a little different.

I got in touch with the lead dev and creator of what is called a ‘Nintendo Switch Freeshop’. This dev runs the biggest piracy freeshop around - over 1 petabyte at its peak - and they’re doing it right under Nintendo’s nose. I wanted to know what brought them down this road, how they justify their piracy, and what it’s like operating something so massive (and illegal) in the shadow of one of the world’s most aggressive copyright enforcers. What I got was a surprisingly candid look into the mindset of someone who sees themselves less as a thief, and more as a digital archivist, a rebel, or even a necessary evil in a broken system.

This interview is conducted for journalistic and educational purposes only. The intention is to explore the motivations, ethics, and technical aspects behind unauthorized software distribution platforms this. The interviewer does not condone, support, or participate in software piracy, nor does this site provide access to or promote the use of illegal content or tools. Readers are encouraged to respect intellectual property laws in their respective jurisdictions.

This post was made with the moderators’ permission. I’ve omitted both the name of the shop and the interviewee to avoid inadvertently promoting or encouraging their work.

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Personal Background & Development History:

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How did you first get into software development or programming? I’m trying to imagine how someone ends up running the most prolific Nintendo Switch Freeshop (currently)…was this one a gradual progression from ‘regular projects’ to your program?

I was around 14 or 15 years old, stuck in my room during the COVID lockdown. One day, I created a simple JSON file that allowed me to install games on my 3DS using an app called Universal-Updater. The games were hosted on a free Dropbox account.

Originally, I uploaded the file to a random GitHub repository — mostly just to avoid losing it. At the time, I didn’t know much. I could only build small websites in JavaScript and tweak JSON files, but that was about it.

Then one morning, I woke up to find dozens of videos talking about my little 3DS script. Back then, it only had a few games and, to be honest, it was pretty bad. But I think people were feeling nostalgic about the old Freeshop, which probably explains why it got so much attention.

That’s when I had the idea to create the eShop, mainly to meet a need I personally had. I was also inspired by an old, now-defunct project made by a developer on GitHub — I think his name was “Tom Stalcker” or something like that, I can’t remember exactly. His work had left an impression on me, and I wanted to recreate something similar in my own way. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one looking for something like this. Seeing how much interest the project was generating, I started working on it more seriously — but still for fun, and out of passion.

I wouldn’t say it was a gradual or “traditional” progression. Once things started taking off and gaining some visibility, I focused entirely on making the kind of service I’d personally want to use as a user.

So no, I didn’t start with “regular projects”, even if I’ve worked on other things since then that helped me level up my skills — both in development and in server management.

Speaking of your program, can you tell those reading here who haven’t a clue – what is it, what does it do, how does it run?!

This question is actually quite broad considering the number of related projects, but let’s say we’re talking about the most well-known one. To put it very simply, it’s like the Nintendo eShop — but without financial barriers. Everyone is equal, regardless of their wealth, and can download content (games, updates, additional content) without having to pay.

Its main purpose is the preservation of digital heritage.

Have you worked on any non-piracy-related projects in the past? Indie games, tools, programs or otherwise?

Yes, I’ve personally made some mini-games before. Usually, when it’s just for fun, I like to create mashups — for example, I’ll challenge myself to mix Mario Kart with Space Invaders, just out of curiosity and for my own enjoyment.

I also often build simple websites just for fun — to improve my skills, explore ideas, or sometimes simply because something made me laugh and I wanted to turn it into a little project.

What drew you specifically to console hacking/homebrew/piracy scene?

I didn’t have any money, and like many kids who own a console but can’t afford games, I just wanted to be able to play video games.

Would you consider yourself more of a developer, a hacker, or an activist or something else entirely?

I wouldn’t presume to label myself as any of those. I’d say I’m simply someone trying to do what I love, creating what I’d want to have as a user, while also trying to help as many people as possible.

Are you operating solo, or is this a collaborative effort?

Generally, I prefer not to answer this question, but no, I’m not working alone. It wouldn’t be possible to manage the community, handle the servers, add content, and do the programming all by myself. So yes, there are several of us, although for security reasons, I prefer not to specify how many we are or who manages what.

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Creation of the shop:

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When and how did the idea for your freeshop begin?

During the COVID period in 2019-2020, refer to the first question in the previous section.

What ‘technical challenges’ did you face in building a freeshop for the Switch compared to older consoles like the 3DS?

On the 3DS, I wouldn’t say it was very complex, because for the app itself, we had forked Universal-Updater at the time — although that might soon change given some big projects aiming to simply patch the 3DS eShop are in development.

But I’d say the biggest challenges we faced on the Switch were, first and foremost, dealing with DMCA takedowns from companies like Nintendo and Markscan…

Another major challenge was bandwidth for a public, free shop. In terms of numbers, the public shop serves at least 200TB every 24 hours on a normal day.

How do you source the game files and keep the library updated?

I’ll answer this question in two parts. First, I’ll explain how we managed to gather over 12,000 games right from the launch.

Without bragging, I’m someone who analyzes a lot, so I’m quite skilled at creating workarounds and even more so at developing automated scraping systems.

Using my knowledge, I created a set of scripts that, initially, scraped the biggest trusted sites offering Switch games. This required two things: integrating an ad blocker (like uBlock) directly into all the scripts, and then scraping the affiliate links.

Once all the links were collected, I wrote a simple script to bypass link shorteners stuffed with ads, to get the full list of 1fichier.com links. When the 1fichier.com links list was ready, I just used a program like JDownloader to mass-download everything.

But that only worked for the first few months. Later, I was contacted by someone who had a full backup of the entire content from an old shop.

Regarding adding new content, there are several sources: One external source is the scene, with dumps coming from teams like Venom, Suxxors, to name a few.

Since (another shop I’m omitting the name of) closed, most new content comes from our own dumps, which we do thanks to donations and payments we receive for our professional services.

We dump around 200 to 300 games per month, and up to 500 updates some months. DLCs occasionally come in dumps too, but that’s rarer — although we’re getting more interested in those lately.

Do you design it to be resilient against takedowns or detection? Speaking of, can you tell me about that side of this, I can’t imagine Nintendo is unaware of your efforts, have you been contacted at all, DMCA’d, any legal notices?

Regarding the systems we have in place, yes, we’ve implemented more than a hun- dred techniques, methods, and systems to ensure the entire project isn’t affected by DMCA takedowns.

As for the DMCAs, we receive them — whether for content, links, or other reasons — sometimes over 500 in certain months, either directed at us or companies linked to our services. Most of these are generated by automated systems from companies affiliated with Nintendo, like Markscan, and some are directly issued by the legal team of NOA (Nintendo of America).

Why create something this polished and accessible, knowing it could attract heavy legal attention?

The goal isn’t focused on the legal side. Whether it’s me personally or other members of the team, we primarily want to create a trustworthy service — exactly the kind of service we’d want to have ourselves as users.

Just because we’re doing something that goes beyond the legal boundaries in some countries doesn’t mean it has to seem shady, obscure, or inaccessible.

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Ethics, Legality, and Preservation:

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How do you personally justify what is undeniably piracy with the project?

Personally, I don’t limit myself by legal boundaries; my limits are ethical. As long as what I do is ethical and doesn’t harm almost anyone, I’m okay with it.

The most important thing is to consider who this project impacts — both positively and negatively — including our users, donors, Nintendo, game studios, and so on.

The reality is that out of 100 people affected, over 98% are helped and given the opportunity to dream.

So, since the project has a positive impact on more than 98% of the people directly or indirectly affected, I don’t mind it. I believe projects like this serve a necessary purpose.

Is this about game preservation, access, anti-corporate stance, for monetary gain — or just practicality? I’m super curious what stance you take for justifying this kind of platform. I interviewed one of the two ‘main’ PC gaming repackers last year, who said that where he lives (a ‘third world’ country) the price of games means any and all gaming was totally inaccessible to he and everyone he knows. He did this (in his words) as a way to give those who wouldn’t be able to game a chance to do so.

Our goal is both preservation and access, because by enabling access, we indirectly ensure preservation.

One of the first things to understand is that if services like this exist, it’s because there is demand — and where there is demand, there will always be supply.

Moreover, thanks to services like these, some games will still be available in 200 years simply because a service — whether ours or another — dumped and shared them.

If projects like (shop name omitted) eShop exist, it’s to give users and people confidence that when they come to our service, they will only find trusted, high-quality files. That’s also why, for example, you won’t find any ads on our platform. Monetary gain is not something we’re interested in. Of course, what cannot be denied is that an infrastructure like this isn’t free.

Generally, the people who pay or donate are not paying for the games themselves, but for the service we provide.

Do you think there’s a meaningful difference between pirating current-gen games and legacy titles?

Of course there is a difference. I consider that “pirating” an old game isn’t really pi- racy as soon as the game is no longer commercially available, because piracy means stealing. But at what point can it be considered stealing when the content is no longer sold?

Regarding recent games, the main issue is the price, especially with Nintendo openly mocking its users by selling Mario Kart World for around $90. And we’re still talking about Mario Kart…

I agree with Nintendo that purchasing power has recently increased in Japan, but they forget one important detail: the majority of their users simply aren’t Japanese.

For example, the Brazilian currency is worth about four times less than the US dollar.

So, I would say that people who “pirate” retro games don’t have the same needs as those who pirate recent games.

Old games are mostly no longer legally accessible, whereas recent games are inaccessible mainly because of their price.

How would you respond to indie devs or studios who rely on every sale?

Unfortunately, some developers make great games but end up paying the price. However, blaming piracy isn’t the right target — if anyone should be blamed, it’s companies like Nintendo.

This question comes up quite often, and while the impact of piracy on indie developers is one of the few real indirect effects, it largely stems from decisions made by Nintendo and others.

What’s your take on Nintendo’s approach to digital rights and game availability?

I would simply say that Nintendo shows absolutely no respect for their community and is now solely focused on filling their pockets.

Back in the day, we had real games—not necessarily standing out for their visual quality, but for their ability to bring people together.

Today, Nintendo mostly just re-releases remakes originally from old consoles, selling them for $60. It’s getting worse with the Switch 2, where they now dare to sell texture packs or minor upgrades for $5 to $10.

Unfortunately, Nintendo’s priorities today are purely financial. And I’d rather not even talk about the closure of the 3DS eShop, which would have been a huge disaster if projects like hShop didn’t exist. I want to clarify that hShop is neither a competitor nor directly or indirectly affiliated with (shop name removed).

Our eShop for the Switch is simply what hShop is for the 3DS.

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Gaming Life & Relationship with Nintendo:

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What’s your history with Nintendo consoles — were you a fan growing up?

I mainly played on the 3DS from when I was 6 until I was 15, so I don’t have as much experience with other consoles.

For many years, my 3DS was my only way to escape my reality, from a childhood that was simply very difficult…

The 3DS was simply Nintendo’s best era, and I don’t think we’ll see anything like that again given the current direction of their latest consoles…

Do you still play games regularly? If so, what’s your current favorite title or platform?

Unfortunately, over time, I play less and less. I truly enjoy only older games now, and I have less and less time to play. It’s one of my regrets not to make more time for it, but life seems to go faster and faster with each passing year.

Have your views of Nintendo changed over time — either as a fan or as a developer?

Yes, a lot, as I explained earlier.

Were there any particular events or decisions by Nintendo that directly motivated you?

See previous answers =)

Do you see a piracy front-end mimicking the Nintendo eShop as an act of protest against Nintendo’s practices? Or are you purely mercenary here – this is for money?

It’s important to know that (shop name edited out by me) eShop was fully funded by myself from 2019 to 2024, so no, this is not about money.

We simply want to provide a high-quality, trustworthy service that is as user-friendly as possible.

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The Broader Scene:

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What do you think the future holds for freeshops like yours

I can’t give a very detailed answer to this question, but it’s important to know that the more piracy is condemned, the more accessible it becomes. The community, pirates, and hackers will always evolve and become increasingly motivated…

Have you got any data for us? I’m beyond curious to know, have you got any idea of the metrics: total users, total downloads, how much data you host? I read that “at its peak the service was handling over 1 petabyte of data per day” – that’s a crazily large operation. And I really don’t expect to get an answer for this one, but how much have you made, an estimate would be nice, from your freeshop?

In terms of bandwidth, yes, it has reached several petabytes per day during some peak periods. However, on quieter days now, we handle between 200 and 300 terabytes within 24 hours. As for users, we recently surpassed the milestone of 3 million across all services combined.

Regarding financials, personally, this does not generate income for me. I prefer to prioritize improving our services and expanding our projects.

You should know that personally, money is not an issue for me. I’m a pretty simple person— as long as I have a roof over my head, food to eat, and internet access, that’s enough.

Between the ages of 18 and 20, I founded four bulletproof hosting companies, which I later sold. Today, I still own two companies—one in hosting and another providing large-scale network systems for major enterprises.

When I need extra money for vacations, I sometimes take on freelance work, like building websites and other projects. So, financial gain isn’t something I’m interested in.

Do you believe the piracy/homebrew community is growing or fracturing?

No, the community is growing and will continue to grow. It’s important to remember that the more piracy is punished, the more services will become available.

Also, as games become increasingly unaffordable, the demand will only keep rising.

Are you concerned about potential legal action or consequences? We all know about Gary Bowser, who was sentenced in 2021 to 40 months prison and $14.5m USD in fines. This has to play on your mind, right?

I am not worried about that at all. I’m not completely reckless—if it’s going to happen, it will happen. Life is short, so I prefer to do what I want now.

Besides, I’m not acting blindly; I’ve already taken precautions and prepared for any eventuality. When you do something like this, you always need to keep some advantages.

You also have to understand that Nintendo doesn’t have the same power everywhere. I could mention countries like Iran or Panama, just to name a few. Panama, for example, is one of the few countries that has no agreements with the NSA or similar agencies.

Do you plan to expand features — or create tools for other platforms? By your own words elsewhere on the internet, I read it’s been quite a tumultuous year for your program…what exactly happened?

We plan to eventually expand our projects across all platforms, including consoles up to the PS4 and PS5. We also aim to explore torrenting, IPTV services, and streaming platforms.

Our core goal remains the same: providing access and maintaining high-quality service.

This year has been quite eventful, with personal challenges as well as a tenfold growth in user numbers. As a result, we had to completely overhaul parts of our network, add new servers, improve some systems, and even rewrite others from scratch.

If Nintendo offered a better digital access or preservation model, would that change your approach? Further, what would make you close shop and change your stance? Would that even be an option?

I don’t think that will ever happen, but the only way to shut down services like ours would be to reduce the demand—because without demand, there’s no need for supply.

Personally, I don’t see myself involved in the project much longer. I created it in 2019, and now it’s 2025. Whether we like it or not, a project like this is extremely mentally exhausting, even if it’s enjoyable to manage. It’s complex and has grown very large.

But no worries—I’ve already started planning my succession, and trusted people will be ready to take over and contribute to the project. Personally, I plan to step away before 2027.

It would become too costly to maintain and pointless without users. But we all know Nintendo will never admit what they are doing or change their stance.

What do you think about the Nintendo Switch 2?

There’s so much to say—between game prices like Mario Kart World at $90, a $500 console that only comes with a black and white theme, $10 texture packs, and even paid software just to learn how to use the console…

I just hope other manufacturers like Sony, Microsoft, and the others don’t follow this same path.

But honestly, it doesn’t really matter, because by doing this they’re alienating a lot of people. There are now many who are solely focused on breaking the console’s security, and the more Nintendo continues down this road, the more they’re pushing their own community away.

Anything in general you’d like to say? The floor is yours!

The one thing I want to say to everyone is: don’t overcomplicate things. Today’s society has become way too complex. Live and enjoy the present moment because you never know what tomorrow will bring. Do what you want, when you want — we only have one life. And remember: in whatever you do, only those who achieve less than you will try to put you down.

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The end!

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…and that’s that. Again, I’d encourage you all to remember this is not endorsing the program, it’s just a chance to have someone explain how they justify doing what they do. As I keep on saying - a ‘peek’ behind the curtain.

This was quite brief, but their time was limited and I’m grateful that they even accepted my request and let me do this. I’ve edited some of their answers, as you’ll see - 99% of these edits have been to remove the eShop’s name.

I have also done a few of these interviews now, and posted them here to Lemmy, if you’d like to read them:

• RetroDECK

• Heroic Games Launcher

• Lutris

• Gardiner Bryant

• The RomM Project

…and I have more to come in the future.

Mastodon:

If you want more of this kind of thing, come join me on Mastodon!