Nintendo has removed a Switch game from the eSᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚhop following a revelation from its developer, who disclosed having covertly placed an "easter egg" that allows people to create b𝕴asic apps.
The role-playing, text-based game called A Dark Room was pulled from the eShop on April 26th, two weeks after its launch, after creator, Amir R🃏ajan, revealed having placed a secret code editor which uses a programming langu🅺age called Ruby.
"Last week I released A Dark Room to the Nintendo Sw🌞itch. Within the game, I also shipped a Ruby interpreter and a code editor as an Easter Egg," Rajan said in an .
"This Easter Egg effectively turns every consumer spec-eܫd Nintendo Switch into a Ruby Machine."
According to Rajan, all one had t꧑o do to access the editor was to purchase the game, plug in a USB keyboard and press the "~" key.
Nintendo apparently caught wind, and has since pulled the game from the eShop, leaving Circle Entertainment, the 𝕴game's publisher, shocked. Rajan has offered up an apology of sorts, claiming that his intentions were pure and he only wanted to help kids discover the joys of coding.
"I deeply regret how this ha💮s 💎blown up," he said (h/t ).
"A simple toy sandboxed environment has been framed as this massive exploit. And of course, it's the community that exploits these things that pushed it up to that level. I'm partly to blame with my sensationali♚zed media posts.
"I acted alone and stupidly. It wa𒅌s a last second 'spark of inspiration' and I snuck it in assuming that plugging in a USB keyboard and pressing the "~" key wasn't part of the test plan.
"Having Circle deal with some of this cannon fire is not something I'd ever want. These past three days have been the worst days of my life. And I don't know what to say except I'm sorry, and 🙈all I wanted to do was allow kids (and coding adults that have forgotten the joy) to discover what I discovered 25 years ago."
D𓆉espite Rajan's claims of goodwill, he should have expected this. Nintendo has always been concerned with security on the Switch and they have a history of taking down fan-made titles and penalizing those who profit from Nintendo hardware piracy before even adding a code editor.
Going as far a꧃s making an announcement onli𒁃ne was never going to work out well.