A US district judge has granted Nintendo a £3.4 million ($4.5 million) default judgment against James Williams, the former Reddit moderator known online as “Archbox”, after he failed to respond to a lawsuit over alleged Nintendo Switch hacking.
After putting Switch hacker Gary Bowser behind bars and targeting emulation software Yuzu, in 2024 Nintendo tracked down suspected Switch hacker James “Archbox” Williams, the main moderator behind r/SwitchPirates, by tracking his posts on Reddit.
This time last year, court documents revealed that Nintendo was seeking $4.5 million in damages from Williams, accusing him of “facilitating a network of unauthorized ‘stores’… that offered vast libraries of pirated Nintendo Switch games to the public for download.”
And now, according to TorrentFreak, $4.5 million (£3.4 million) is exactly what Williams now owes Nintendo.
The judge noted that even if Williams did not respond to the lawsuit, he must have been aware of it given that he had hired a lawyer to fight a subpoena from Google.
Nintendo demanded $150,000 for each of the 30 games Williams allegedly pirated, including The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, grossing $4.5 million (£3.4 million). The judge agreed, ruling that Williams’ “egregious infringing activities here deserve substantial punishment” and issued a permanent injunction prohibiting Williams from distributing pirated Nintendo games, not just the 30 named titles, and from encouraging anyone to do so.
The judge also thanked Nintendo for not separately seeking DMCA damages or attorney’s fees, calling it a “reasonable gesture” in favor of awarding the maximum copyright damages.
Last month, John Romero, co-founder of id Software and father of the Quake and Doom game series, talked about the days when id Software was operating. with Taiwanese pirates to spread Doom.
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