Nintendo has won its suit against James Williams, an alleged purveyor of pirated Switch games and one of the moderators of the r/SwitchPirates subreddit. According to a report in Aftermath, Nintendo won on a default judgement, indicating Williams never responded to the suit in court. As a result of his non-response, Nintendo will get what it asked for in damages to the tune of $4.5 million dollars. Additionally, the court documents say Williams will have to shut down any websites he runs where pirated Switch material is distributed.
Nintendo does not play when it comes to taking down pirates. Nintendo first filed suit against Williams in 2024 as a part of a larger crackdown on original Switch pirating activity. The company targeted Ryan Daly, the owner of Modded Hardware, a site that specialized in selling modded original Switches, mod kits, and flash carts. Initially, Nintendo and Daly worked out a deal in which Daly would agree to stop the illegal shit and Nintendo would call off its lawyers. That didn’t happen, however. The case went to court, and Daly would eventually be forced to not only pay Nintendo $2 million, but also relinquish any hardware that he used to mod consoles.
Now, Nintendo has secured another potentially life-ruinous amount of money, this time from Williams. If only Big Red had this energy for the companies and entities with the scratch to pay these kinds of sums.