When we're talking about cheat codes, which used to be free and many now say they've turned into purchasable boosts or loot boxes, they're not free. This game in particular is a bit muddier, definitely.
Well, if you purchase the game and immediately use cheat engine to get unlimited loot boxes, without cheating that would be only possible if you had first bought in-game currency with real money. Otherwise using cheat engine wouldn't even make much sense, since the game is apparently throwing in-game currency at you left and right. It's an interesting conversation for sure. ��*♂️
The argument of how "easy" a game is, or how easily you can grind is irrelevant to an end users wish to use cheats. Historically, people have done it to dick around too, not
just to be overpowered. I said earlier in another topic I sometimes cheat in Football Manager with money gains/player editing and so on. I don't do it in my "serious saves", but for my own enjoyment I sometimes like to "turn on God mode".
If more and more games start selling currency/crystals and other booster packs, how will single player cheating be viewed? (multiplayer cheating has always been frowned upon). Going to a claim of piracy is a strong move, as piracy suggests you could have a copyright strike/legal strike against you as a citizen if you were caught using... a cheat engine.
While the above might be musings mostly for PC owners, there are "ethical debates" around Amiibos and card readers/NFC tags. Not quite sure I've seen people say its full-on piracy to use printed NFC tags to unlock Amiibo exclusive content. I mean, you could just borrow a friends Amiibo that you don't own and scan it in, then save your game once Epona is unlocked in Zelda. You still spent nothing there, when Nintendo obviously want you buying their Amiibos to get the content. Not quite the basis for this topic, but more food for thought about people getting content that
can be gated behind paywalls. Some of the Amiibo content does too say "earnable in game". Epona is just one example of a bit of content you truly cannot get in-game unless you have the Amiibo scanned in. Same goes for the Wolf IIRC, but I don't have the Wolf Amiibo (I do have the one needed for Epona and scanned it in myself).