Nintendo just collected a $4.5 million default judgment against James C. Williams, aka "Archbox," a former leading moderator of r/SwitchPirates who allegedly ran multiple online "pirate shops" distributing unauthorized Switch game files and circumvention tools. Williams never responded to the 2024 lawsuit filed in Washington federal court, so U.S. District Judge Lauren King granted Nintendo of America everything it asked for—including a permanent injunction ordering him to immediately disable access to any such shops and related social media accounts.
The award stems from statutory damages of $150,000 per title across 30 copyrighted games, including Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Luigi’s Mansion 3, and Pikmin 4. Court filings detail Williams allegedly promoting the shops on the subreddit (which grew to ~190,000 members under his moderation), soliciting eShop gift card "donations" to acquire games for piracy, and assisting users with signature patches and other tools to run the ROMs. This case is part of Nintendo’s broader 2024 crackdown that also netted a $2 million judgment against modded-hardware seller Ryan Daly.
Default judgments like this function less as a payday and more as a deterrent—Nintendo secures the shutdown orders and precedent whether the money ever materializes. The community reaction on Reddit has been predictably split between schadenfreude at the mod’s self-own and the usual "Nintendo sues poor people" grumbling, but the filings make clear the defendant knew the activity violated copyright law and chose to ignore both the cease-and-desist and the summons.
