Nintendon’t take piracy lightly.
Nintendo of America has filed for a US$4.5 million default judgment against James Williams, known online as “Archbox,” in an ongoing lawsuit over alleged large-scale Nintendo Switch game piracy. The court motion, submitted on 3 October to the Western District of Washington, follows months of silence from the defendant after a court summons was issued in late 2024.
According to the filing by intellectual property law firm Lowe Graham Jones, Williams is accused of distributing “thousands” of pirated Switch games and helping moderate the well-known r/SwitchPirates subreddit. His failure to respond now allows the court to proceed without his defence, potentially granting Nintendo the full amount requested.
Nintendo intensifies its legal stance on Switch piracy
In its motion, Nintendo compared the case to Bungie’s 2023 lawsuit against Lavicheats, which resulted in a US$6.7 million ruling. However, it claims the alleged actions of Archbox were far more damaging, arguing that the US$4.5 million figure “is nowhere near” enough to address the “seriousness” of the issue.
The company described the alleged activities as a sustained attack on its business and innovation, stating, “The popularity of Nintendo’s video games and consoles has made Nintendo an ongoing target of intellectual property thieves and hackers.” It added that Williams’ conduct caused “extreme hardship” for the company while he would face “little, if any, hardship” from a permanent injunction.
The case builds on Nintendo’s broader campaign to curb piracy and hardware modification. In 2024, the company filed another lawsuit targeting a different modder accused of selling piracy-enabling hardware and managing the same Reddit community. That earlier lawsuit alleged the defendant profited from distributing modded consoles and Nintendo Switch ROMs online.
Despite reporting a gross profit of around US$4.7 billion in the last fiscal year, Nintendo maintains that piracy continues to pose a significant threat to its long-term business stability.
If approved, the US$4.5 million judgment would mark another major legal victory for Nintendo as it continues to combat unauthorised game distribution within the Switch community.
