# Nintendo wins $4.5 million piracy lawsuit

> Nintendo of America won a default judgment against a Switch game pirate who failed to respond in court.
- Title: Nintendo wins $4.5 million piracy lawsuit · Engadget
- Summary: Nintendo of America won a default judgment against a Switch game pirate who failed to respond in court. Nintendo won four point five million dollars in…
- Keywords: nintendo, switch, piracy, james williams, lawsuit, damages, technology, wins, million, Engadget
- Source: Engadget — https://engadget.com/2268376/nintendo-wins-4-5-million-from-lawsuit-over-pirated-switch-games
- Author: Anna Washenko
- Published: 2026-09-24T21:34:11+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: nintendo, switch, piracy, james williams, lawsuit, damages, technology
## Nintendo wins piracy case by default
Nintendo of America was awarded four point five million dollars in damages against James Williams, who allegedly sold pirated versions of Switch games. Williams did not respond to the lawsuit in court.
## Who is James Williams
Williams is known online by the handle Archbox and was reportedly a moderator for the r/SwitchPirates Reddit community. The subreddit remains active, though Williams does not currently appear listed as a mod.
## Nintendo's allegations against Williams
Nintendo claimed in its suit, originally filed in two thousand twenty-four, that Williams was the operator, overseer and driving force behind several Pirate Shops offering pirated Nintendo Switch games.

> operator, overseer and driving force behind several Pirate Shops
## Why Nintendo won so easily
Williams did not respond to the suit in court, which granted Nintendo a win by default. The game company's legal team had comparatively less work to do than usual in this case.
## What Williams must do now
Williams has been ordered to immediately disable access to all online shops he operates or controls which have offered extensive libraries of pirated Nintendo Switch games for download.

> immediately disable access to all online 'shops' that he operates or otherwise controls which have offered to the public extensive libraries of pirated Nintendo Switch games for download
## Key takeaway

Nintendo won four point five million dollars in damages against James Williams, who allegedly sold pirated Switch games, after he failed to respond to the lawsuit.