A Washington court has ordered an individual named Williams to pay Nintendo of America $4.5 million in damages. The ruling requires the defendant to shut down all online shops under their control that offered pirated Nintendo Switch games for public download.
Nintendo identified the defendant by linking their Reddit persona, Archbox, to a Nintendo account used for a device repair. After the company sent a cease-and-desist notice, the defendant initially agreed to cooperate but later stopped communicating, leading Nintendo to request a default judgment in October 2025.
The company has a history of legal actions regarding its intellectual property. In 2024, the developers of the Yuzu emulator settled with Nintendo for $2.4 million. Additionally, the company secured a $2 million settlement against a modder producing backup devices last year and issued DMCA strikes against over 400 GitHub repositories.
Nintendo is also currently involved in a patent infringement lawsuit against the developers of Palworld. While the case is ongoing, reports suggest the company could receive a maximum payout of $30,000 if successful. This follows the game's commercial performance, with over 5 million copies sold on Steam.
