Reddit Moderator Ordered to Pay Nintendo $4.5 Million in Switch Piracy Case
publishers 11articles 11first reported 24 Sep, 15:50 UTCdeveloping since 24 Sep · 5 editions
A federal judge in Washington awarded Nintendo of America $4.5 million in a default judgment against James Williams, a former moderator of the r/SwitchPirates Reddit community accused of distributing pirated Nintendo Switch games.
Nintendo sued Williams, known online as “archbox,” in 2024. The company alleged that he operated and promoted online “pirate shops” containing libraries of copied Switch games and circumvention software. Its complaint also accused Williams of soliciting Nintendo eShop gift cards and game copies as donations so the games could be copied and distributed.
Williams did not respond to the lawsuit, and Nintendo requested a default judgment in October. U.S. District Judge Lauren King found that Nintendo had demonstrated Williams promoted the shops, encouraged others to contribute pirated games and helped distribute the files despite knowing that the activity violated copyright law.
The damages award amounts to $150,000 for each of 30 copyrighted games, including *Animal Crossing: New Horizons*, *Luigi’s Mansion 3* and *Pikmin 4*.
The court also ordered Williams to immediately disable access to online shops under his control that offered pirated Switch games. He must also shut down social media accounts used to distribute Nintendo’s copyrighted games.
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