Changes to Japanese law may make modding games illegal

An amendment to a Japanese law may make it illegal to edit save games and make other modifications. It is unclear what the exact scope of the legal text is, which makes it difficult to estimate the consequences.

Including the developer of SplatHax, a save game editor for Splatoon games, warns of the law change. The AccsJp website has a description of the legislative change, but interpreting legal texts from other languages ​​is a delicate matter, making it unclear exactly what will and will not be covered by the new rules. It seems that the law also makes modding consoles illegal. The law would criminalize the provider of software or services to be able to do that, but also people who use it.

Due to the law, the sale of various services such as Pro Action Replay and Save Editor of CyberGadget has been stopped, reports a developer on Reddit. It seems that with the new rules, Japanese lawmakers want to protect game and console makers. For example, editing save games can give users extra items without first earning them or increasing their own points. In online games this can lead to bans, because it is seen as cheating.