Nintendo won $4,5 million from the owner of pirate game sites for Switch
Nintendo secured a $$4,5 million judgment against a distributor of pirated games for the Nintendo Switch. The ruling was issued on September 23 by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
The defendant was James Williams, known online by the handle Archbox. Nintendo filed a lawsuit against him on June 28, 2024. The company alleged that since 2019, Williams had been involved in creating and operating several websites and online communities through which pirated copies of Nintendo Switch games and software designed to bypass console protection were distributed.
Williams was also one of the leading moderators of the r/SwitchPirates subreddit, which had about 190,000 members. According to the case materials, he posted links to pirate stores, helped users install circumvention tools, and collected games and Nintendo eShop gift cards to replenish catalogs. Among the distributed games was The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Williams’ own digital footprints helped Nintendo locate him. The company linked the Archbox account to two Nintendo accounts under the name James Williams, then checked the associated email addresses in its repair system. There, it found two repair requests with a delivery address in Surprise, Arizona. The specific device Williams sent for repair is not specified in court documents.
Even before filing the lawsuit, in March 2024, Nintendo sent Williams a demand to cease copyright infringement. The parties exchanged correspondence for some time, but later Williams failed to present a defense in the case. After proper service of legal documents, the court issued a default judgment in favor of Nintendo.
The company sought compensation for copyright infringement on 30 games. The court imposed the maximum statutory damages for willful copyright infringement—$150000 per game. As a result, the total amount reached $4,5 million.
In addition to monetary compensation, the court issued a permanent injunction prohibiting Williams from distributing pirated copies of Nintendo games, software, and other circumvention tools, as well as assisting other users in obtaining such content. He must also shut down pirate stores and associated social media accounts, messaging app profiles, and other services used to distribute games or circumvention tools.
