Nintendo wins $4.5M default judgment in Switch piracy case

A US federal court has entered a $4.5 million judgment against James Williams, an online figure known as Archbox, in a Nintendo piracy case. Judge Lauren King granted Nintendo's motion on September 23, according to TechSpot, which cited Aftermath. The decision came by default because Williams did not respond to the complaint.

Nintendo sued Williams in June 2024. The company claimed he ran or directed several outlets that distributed unauthorized Switch games. It also alleged that he used the r/SwitchPirates subreddit, where he was a leading moderator, to point users toward sites offering unauthorized downloads. The community had nearly 190,000 members at the time.

The complaint further accused Williams of soliciting Nintendo eShop gift cards to buy games that could be copied and shared. Nintendo said he supplied tools and technical assistance for bypassing Switch protections and helped users run pirated titles. Because the case ended in a default judgment, those allegations were not tested in a contested trial.

The $4.5 million total corresponds to the maximum statutory damages of $150,000 for each of 30 copyrighted games. The titles named in the case include The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The court determined the infringement was willful, according to the report.

The judgment includes a permanent injunction. It prohibits Williams from distributing pirated Nintendo games or circumvention software, and from encouraging others to obtain them. It also requires him to disable accounts used to distribute or promote the infringing material.

The order notes that Williams retained a lawyer to respond to Nintendo's subpoena to Google, but that representation did not extend to answering the complaint. That left Nintendo's claims uncontested.

Nintendo's investigators reportedly connected Williams's Reddit activity to a Nintendo account used for hardware repairs. Aftermath reported that Nintendo had shipped repaired hardware to his address just days before sending a cease-and-desist letter. This detail is notable because it shows how routine service records can intersect with enforcement efforts, though it is based on reporting rather than a court finding described in the supplied material.

Williams was not the only defendant pursued by Nintendo. On the same day in June 2024, the company sued Modded Hardware, a business that sold modified Switch consoles and modding services. That separate case ended in 2025 when its operator agreed to a $2 million judgment as part of a settlement.

It is not clear whether Nintendo will collect the $4.5 million. Archbox's Reddit account has already been deleted, and the shops named in the complaint closed long ago, most after a Nintendo warning in March 2024. A default judgment can establish liability and damages, but collection depends on the defendant's assets and other factors not addressed in the supplied material.

For consumers, the case does not change the basic rules around Switch software or modding. It is a targeted legal action against alleged distribution and circumvention, not a new technical restriction or policy affecting all users. The main takeaways are Nintendo's willingness to pursue piracy-related claims in court and the role that account and repair records can play in such investigations.