Last year, Nintendo sued James Williams, a moderator for a Switch pirates page on Reddit who posted under the name Archbox. Now, Nintendo has set the damages it wants from the court, and it could leave Williams with a penalty for several million dollars.
Nintendo’s legal complaint has been posted online (via Oatmeal Dome), and it’s asking for $4.5 million because it contends that Williams operated multiple Switch piracy sites, sold hardware hacks, and offered modified Switch consoles with pirated games. It also alleges that he refused to comply when the company sent him a cease-and-desist order. The complaint notes that Williams stopped acknowledging Nintendo’s requests, which led to the lawsuit against him.
Last year, a separate report revealed how Nintendo played detective to identify Williams as the person behind the Archbox Reddit account. Williams’ allegedly shared personal details online that helped narrow the search, and he also sent in his Switch to Nintendo for repairs. Nintendo was granted a default judgement against Williams because he didn’t plead his case in court before the scheduled deadlines.
In 2024, Nintendo’s lawsuit successfully shut down Switch emulator Yuzu and 3DS emulator Citra. Nintendo has yet to file a lawsuit against OpenAI’s new Sora 2, which is filled with AI Mario And Pikachu videos that appear to have been created without permission. Nintendo is currently in a legal battle against Palworld developer Pocketpair. Nintendo was also recently granted a patent that may make it difficult for any future Pokemon-inspired games to be released.
