Nintendo says (...) that bans stemming from pirated Pokemon Sun/Moon copies are permanent

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade but here's a few facts about this:

  1. The ban basically only affects a very small percentage of the leaked game files, specifically v.0 which was the first version of the leak to be released.

  2. The ban also apparently only affected those who successfully managed to get online during the period. And not just for stuff like the plaza and getting Munchlax, but battling and trading.

  3. Everyone else seems fine. In fact, most of the forums where people discuss this seem rather ambivalent about the whole issue as barely anyone was affected and people crying about it are getting told "if you go online with a leaked copy, it's your own fault".

  4. Everyone with a leaked copy of the game now has it registered as an official copy in the official 3DS online store, so they can now download the real version for free for some reason.

  5. Those who were banned can already be unbanned with a CFW update, and even if they didn't bother with that, eshop itself has already been cracked with Freeshop anyway.

So... kinda it does nothing except inconvenience early reviewers?

/r/3DS Thread Link - nintendoeverything.com