Nintendo Awarded $4.5 Million in Switch Piracy Lawsuit Against Reddit Moderator

Nintendo has secured $4.5 million in damages following a lawsuit against a Reddit moderator accused of distributing pirated Nintendo Switch games. The judgment was granted by a U.S. federal court.

The defendant, known online as Archbox, failed to respond to the lawsuit filed by Nintendo in 2024. This resulted in a default judgment, where the court approved Nintendo's claims in full.

Nintendo alleged that Archbox was involved in creating, operating, and promoting a network of websites that offered pirated Switch games for free download. The company stated that Archbox acted as an owner, administrator, and promoter for several piracy operations, including a large Reddit community dedicated to pirated games.

Court documents indicated that Archbox was aware of the legal proceedings, having previously challenged a subpoena. The judge noted that his failure to respond was detrimental to his case. Nintendo sought $150,000 for each of the 30 games involved in the case, totaling the $4.5 million award.

In addition to the financial penalty, the court issued a permanent injunction prohibiting Archbox from distributing any pirated Nintendo games or software that circumvents copy protection, and from encouraging others to do so.