Nintendo wins $4.5 million in case against Switch piracy suspect James Williams

According to the available information, the lawsuit was filed in June 2024 and Nintendo says the alleged activity had been ongoing since at least 2019. The case names more than 30 Switch titles, including The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

The reporting also says Nintendo sought the legal maximum of $150,000 per title after Williams failed to respond to the case. The exact court calculation behind the final $4.5 million figure is not fully included in the material provided.

What happened

Nintendo has reportedly secured a court ruling in a federal lawsuit against James “Archbox” Williams, a former moderator of r/SwitchPirates. The case was filed in June 2024 in a federal court in Washington, and the available source description names US District Judge Lauren King as the judge involved in the matter.

Nintendo claims Williams was involved in decrypting and distributing Nintendo Switch games through so-called pirate shops and other circumvention software. The provided information says the alleged operation had been active since at least 2019. The source description also says Williams used software described as a “circumvention device” to bypass Nintendo’s systems and gain access to more than 30 Switch games.

The reporting cites damages of $4.5 million. The underlying court documents are not included in the material provided, so the exact calculation behind that amount cannot be fully verified. However, the available information states that in October 2025 Nintendo requested the legal maximum of $150,000 per title after Williams did not respond to the case. That makes clear the damages claim was built from multiple individual titles rather than a single release.

The games named in the source description include The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. That suggests Nintendo’s case covers a broad set of alleged infringements across multiple popular Switch titles.

Timeline

2019 or earlier — Nintendo says Williams’ alleged piracy operation had been active since at least this year. The source description links that to the use of circumvention software to access more than 30 Switch games.
June 2024 — Nintendo files the lawsuit in a federal court in Washington. The available information explicitly identifies this as the start of the case.
October 2025 — Nintendo reportedly asks for the legal maximum of $150,000 per title after Williams fails to respond to the case. That request forms the basis for the later damages calculation.
September 25, 2026 — Reporting on the $4.5 million damages award appears. The available source identifies this as the outcome of the case.

Background

The case fits into Nintendo’s broader efforts against Switch piracy distribution and tools that bypass the platform’s protections. The sources describe software used to circumvent Nintendo’s systems in order to access games outside the official distribution channel. The case therefore targets not only file sharing, but also the technical side of security bypassing.

The named titles and the count of more than 30 games show that Nintendo is not limiting the case to a single release, but to a wider set of alleged infringements. The available information indicates the case involves a combination of piracy, security circumvention, and distribution of multiple Switch games. With the lawsuit filed in June 2024 and Nintendo later seeking the maximum per-title award in October 2025, the case developed over a long period.

The source description identifies Williams as a former moderator of r/SwitchPirates, directly linking him to an online community associated with Switch piracy. The available information also says he did not respond to the case, after which Nintendo reportedly had the damages per title added up to the final $4.5 million figure.

The case is therefore an example of how Nintendo uses legal action against both distribution channels and the people the company says are behind them. The provided material does not include the full court record, so details about the exact calculation, any defenses, and the complete list of affected titles remain limited to the reporting summary.