According to foreign media My Nintendo News, Nintendo has recently begun a new round of legal action against Switch pirates. This time the target is Reddit pirate moderator James Williams, also known as "Archbox" to netizens.

As usual, Nintendo initially gave him the opportunity to "retreat in good faith," but he chose to ignore it.In July 2024, Nintendo sent multiple cease-and-desist letters to Archbox, asking him to close relevant communities and delete content, but he has always ignored them.Eventually, Nintendo officially took him to court—and he didn't even respond to the court filing.Now, Nintendo is applying for a default judgment, asking him to pay $4.5 million in compensation.

Nintendo has a history of showing no mercy to anyone involved in piracy, cracking, or illegal distribution of games.Although these lawsuits rarely win real money, it is clear that companies are more concerned about the deterrent effect.

Just last month, Nintendo just obtained a $2 million verdict in the case against Modded Hardware founder Ryan Daly; and as early as 2021, Gary Bowser, who was arrested in the Switch cracking case, has been sentenced to $10 million in compensation, and is almost destined to be in debt for the rest of his life.Last year, Nintendo sued Jess Keighin for another $7.5 million, and today's $4.5 million case is just another example.

Given that almost everyone sued can't afford Nintendo's legal fees, let alone damages, it's likely that Nintendo is doing this to create a stir in the piracy community.

Industry insiders believe that the core purpose of Nintendo's lawsuits is not to get money back, but to send a signal to the entire piracy circle through a series of high judgments: "Don't touch Switch."