Used Nintendo Wii-U buyers can get previous owners' games

Buyers of used Nintendo Wii U consoles may be getting something extra: the ability to re-download games bought by the former owner.

 

A user on the NeoGAF forums claimed getting this "privilege" after buying a used Wii U, theorizing the games could be linked to the console itself.

 

"Whoever owned the console before me purchased multiple games, meaning all the games he purchased are available to redownload for free... This is with a new account btw I setup as well. Games are clearly linked to Console itself," said user DSN2K on the forum.

 

"Advice to those buying a second hand WiiU's...check all the games on the Store...you might be in for some 'free' games!" DSN2K added.

 

Eurogamer said this is despite any old user accounts being removed and the hard drive wiped clean.

 

It said the user in the NeoGAF forum got free access to games such as Trine 2 and Nano Assault Neo.

 

"Download history is linked to your console, not your user account. The reason for this appears to be that licenses for downloaded content are tied to a specific Wii U console, not a single user account. This tallies with the fact that all users of the console can access downloaded content, regardless of who purchased it," it said.

 

It added a users' account Nintendo Network ID and any download purchase history is tied to a single console.

 

Because of this, it said there is little choice at present for gamers when trading in Wii U, except to leave access to downloaded content on the console.

 

This could be bad for people who may later reconsider their trade-in and bad for Nintendo, which cannot stop "free games" becoming available.

 

"The only way to recover an ID from another Wii U is by sending it to Nintendo's customer support - and that's something only Nintendo of America has confirmed it can do," it said. — TJD, GMA News