Nintendo sues Reddit moderator for piracy of Switch games and pays $4.5 million in damages

Nintendo has scored another high-profile court victory, winning a $4.5 million lawsuit against James Williams, who goes by archbox. A federal judge in Washington state issued a default judgment after the defendants ignored a trial that was set to begin in 2024. Williams was accused of running the r/SwitchPirates community, collecting donations, and organizing an online store that sold illegal copies of the game.

The court found that the defendants actively distributed pirated files, software that circumvented protections, and encouraged other users to share hacked content. The fine was calculated based on damages of $150,000 for each infringement of thirty copyrights and included the following: Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Pikmin 4. In addition to the fine, Williams must immediately shut down all illegal resources and block relevant social media accounts.