Nintendo wins $4.5 million lawsuit against Switch pirate by default
A Washington court granted Nintendo of America a $4.5 million default judgment after the defendant failed to appear in court and respond to the allegations. The company claimed that it sent a cease-and-desist letter and the respondent even answered via email saying they will comply and cooperate, but they have since cut-off communications.
Nintendo of America recently secured a $4.5 million victory in a lawsuit against James Williams, who allegedly moderated the r/SwitchPirates subreddit and sold pirated Switch games online. The company filed the lawsuit in June 2024 for copyright infringement, but Williams never responded. Consequently, Nintendo requested and received a default judgment in their favor.
The court now orders Williams to pay $4.5 million in damages and to shut down the pirated shops under his control. A court clerk's filing states that Williams must immediately disable access to all online shops that offer pirated Nintendo Switch games for download. Williams was identified through an investigation that traced them to their Archbox persona on Reddit.
Nintendo then linked the Reddit details to its internal database and found a connection to a Nintendo account that had a handheld sent in for repairs. After sending a cease-and-desist after Williams allegedly responded via email, Nintendo asked for a default judgment in October 2025, which the court granted. Nintendo is known for its litigious approach to intellectual property.
Other recent wins include a $2.4 million settlement with the developers of Switch emulator Yuzu and a $2 million settlement against a Switch modder. Despite numerous legal successes, Nintendo has not always prevailed. The company did not file a copyright lawsuit against the developers of Palworld, a popular game often described as "Pokémon with guns." Instead, they sued the developers for patent infringement after the game went viral.
Written by urgent.news from Tom's Hardware's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
