Nintendo has secured a $4.5 million default judgment against James "Archbox" Williams, a Reddit moderator accused of selling pirated Nintendo Switch games. The company's legal action against Williams began in late 2014, when Nintendo of America used a combination of Williams' Reddit posts and his own Nintendo repair orders to identify and pursue him.
Williams was reportedly the operator of the Reddit community SwitchPirates, which had approximately 190,000 members who discussed downloading pirated games and circumventing Nintendo's anti-piracy measures. He was also accused of running online "shops" that sold software and tools to facilitate piracy.
Nintendo initially sought $4.5 million in damages last year, stating at the time that this figure did not fully compensate for the severity of the defendant's actions. As Williams did not respond to the lawsuit, a court this week entered a default judgment against him, awarding Nintendo the full amount. The judgment also includes a permanent injunction prohibiting Williams from selling pirated Switch games, piracy-enabling software, or modded consoles.
Williams is now required to cease operations of all his online "shops" that offered pirated Nintendo Switch games for download. He must also close any associated social media accounts and Discord servers used to advertise these activities.
This legal victory follows a recent success for Nintendo in Europe, where the sale of piracy-enabling accessories for the Switch, such as the MIG Switch, was banned. These devices allow users to bypass Nintendo's anti-piracy measures and play illegally downloaded games. Nintendo previously took action against users of these devices, disabling online functionality on their consoles.
Nintendo has a history of pursuing legal action against those involved in piracy. Last year, a console modder who ignored Nintendo's warnings and attempted to represent himself in court was ordered to pay $2 million. Additionally, Gary Bowser, an employee of a company that sold anti-piracy devices, was ordered to pay $14.5 million in damages and has stated he will be paying this debt for the remainder of his life.