Nintendo wins $4.5 million piracy judgment after former Reddit moderator fails to defend himself in court

Winners & losers: Nintendo, a company that's as famous for aggressively going after pirates as it is for its games and consoles, has just been awarded $4.5 million in damages in a lawsuit over pirated Switch games. This was an easy win for the firm, given that it won by default when the defendant did not answer the complaint in court.

Nintendo sued James Williams, also known online as Archbox, in June 2024 over claims he was the operator, overseer and driving force behind several Pirate Shops.

As reported by Aftermath, the judgment also requires Williams to disable access to any shops he operates or controls that offered pirated Switch games. US District Judge Lauren King granted Nintendo's motion on September 23.

It was reported last October that Nintendo was seeking $4.5 million from Williams, a leading moderator of the r/SwitchPirates subreddit. The company accused him of using the community, which had nearly 190,000 members, to direct users toward websites offering unauthorized downloads.

Nintendo also alleged that Williams solicited Nintendo eShop gift cards to buy games that could then be copied and distributed. He reportedly provided tools and technical help for bypassing the Switch's protections, giving users assistance with getting those pirated titles running.

The $4.5 million figure comes from the maximum statutory damages of $150,000 for each of 30 copyrighted games. The titles included The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The court found the infringement was willful.

According to the court order, Williams hired a lawyer specifically to respond to Nintendo's subpoena to Google. However, that involvement never extended to answering the complaint, leaving Nintendo's allegations uncontested.

The permanent injunction bars Williams from distributing pirated Nintendo games and circumvention software, or encouraging others to obtain them. It also requires him to disable accounts used to distribute or promote the infringing material.

Perhaps the most ironic part is how Nintendo tracked him down. Aftermath notes that investigators connected his Reddit activity to a Nintendo account used for hardware repairs. The company had shipped repaired hardware to his address just days before sending its cease-and-desist letter.

Williams wasn't the only target of Nintendo's lawyers. The company sued Modded Hardware on the same day in June 2024, targeting a business that sold modified Switch consoles and offered modding services. That separate case ended in 2025 with its operator agreeing to a $2 million judgment as part of a settlement.

Whether Nintendo actually collects $4.5 million is another matter. Archbox's Reddit account is already deleted and the shops named in the complaint closed long ago, most after Nintendo's March 2024 warning.