There aren’t many entities in the video game world that are more litigious than Nintendo. If you’re illegally distributing its games, Nintendo’s lawyers will find you, and they will not hold back. A Reddit moderator is the latest in a long line to find that out the hard way, as a court has ordered them to pay Nintendo a whopping $4.5 million in damages.

Nintendo filed a lawsuit against James Williams, who goes by Archbox on Reddit, in June 2024, reports Aftermath. Williams was reportedly the owner of several Pirate Shops through which they would illegally sell Switch games. Nintendo claims Williams’ distribution of these pirated Switch titles cost them $4.5 million, and the judge overseeing the case has agreed, ordering Williams to pay that amount to Nintendo of America.

The judge had no other option but to agree in this instance, since Williams has not responded to the lawsuit. That means Nintendo won the case via default judgment. Nintendo requested the amount Williams would have to pay should it win the case be $4.5 million in October 2025.

Nintendo is pretty savvy when it comes to taking down those who are illegally ripping and selling copies of its games, as well as making money from modded Nintendo hardware. In this case, it didn’t require much digging from Nintendo’s crack team of lawyers, with Williams leaving an incredibly obvious trail of breadcrumbs in their wake.

The subreddit Williams previously moderated is called r/SwitchPirates. I’m a little floored that such a subreddit exists considering how often Nintendo goes after people pirating its games.

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