Nintendo will get $4.5 million from a Reddit mod accused of piracy
, by Thibaut
Back in October 2025, Nintendo filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington seeking $4.5 million from James Williams, an active moderator on Reddit.
Known by the username Archbox, he is accused of operating, owning, and managing four pirate stores offering access to dozens of Switch games. In 2024, he had also decided to ignore the lawsuit filed against him. Today, the court has therefore granted Nintendo’s motion in its entirety, awarding the company $4.5 million. This amounts to $150,000 per game, since 30 were listed.
The complaint states that Williams "long has been involved in creating, operating, supporting, and promoting a network of Pirate Shops which have offered to the public extensive libraries of pirated Nintendo Switch games for free download"
"Since 2019, Williams has been either directly or indirectly the owner, manager, operator, creator, administrator, supplier, and/or overseer of several online Pirate Shops, and has worked to actively promote these Pirate Shops to communities consisting of many thousands of individuals."
The individual in question is recognized as "a leading (if not primary) moderator" of the Reddit group SwitchPirates, which had up to 190,000 members at its peak.
Source: videogameschronicle.com