Nintendo secures $2 million settlement against Switch modder — Modded Hardware creator agreed to stop selling backup devices, but continued to, prompting lawsuit

Nintendo has won a $2 million stipulated judgment and sweeping injunction against Ryan Michael Daly, the U.S.-based modder behind the now-defunct 'Modded Hardware' storefront. Daly, who sold devices like the MIG Switch and MIG Dumper, agreed to the judgment after initially denying wrongdoing and defending himself in court. According to the judgment, Daly originally agreed to stop selling the unauthorized devices but then reneged, prompting Nintendo to sue.

The order, signed September 5 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, concludes a year-long legal fight with Daily, who represented himself throughout the case. As part of the settlement, Daly admits to violating both copyright law and the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions by selling modchips and tools that bypassed Switch security systems, thereby enabling piracy and unauthorized game backups.

This ruling is severe even by Nintendo’s standards. In addition to the $2 million in damages, the court imposed a permanent injunction that bans Daly from selling or even possessing devices that defeat Switch protection mechanisms, including the MIG Switch and MIG Dumper. It also authorizes Nintendo to take over Daly’s website, Modded Hardware, and compels Daly to surrender any remaining stock or hardware used in the development and distribution of modding tools.

The injunction also bans Daly from “reverse engineering” Nintendo systems, hosting tutorials, and even linking to circumvention materials. It also invokes the All Writs Act to compel third parties — including web hosts and registrars — to help shut Daly down for good.

This isn’t the first time Nintendo has gone after modders. In 2021, the company famously helped jail Team-Xecuter hacker Gary Bowser (yes, really), who was also ordered to pay Nintendo millions in restitution after distributing Switch modchips. Bowser, who was released from prison in 2023, will have to pay 25-30% of his earnings to Nintendo for the rest of his life.

While the MIG Dumper has been pitched online as a tool for backing up legitimately owned games, Nintendo’s complaint and the stipulated judgment frame the hardware as a piracy-enabling device. According to the filing, Daly’s tools had “no commercially significant purpose or use other than to circumvent Nintendo’s technological protection measures and to infringe Nintendo’s copyrights.” This is a legal standard used in past lawsuits like the Sony vs. Universal Betamax case — and now codified in the DMCA — to ban devices like torrent boxes and DVD rippers.

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