Nintendo Awarded $4.5 Million Judgment Against Switch Piracy Ring Leader

Nintendo of America has secured a $4.5 million legal victory against James "Archbox" Williams, a former Reddit moderator accused of operating online stores that distributed pirated Nintendo Switch titles and circumvention tools.

U.S. District Judge Lauren King granted Nintendo's request for a default judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington after Williams failed to respond to the lawsuit filed against him in 2024.

Nintendo first initiated legal action against Williams after using a combination of Reddit posts and his personal Nintendo repair order records to establish his identity.

Court filings identified Williams as "a leading (if not primary) moderator" of the r/SwitchPirates Reddit community, which grew to 190,000 members. Nintendo alleged that Williams posted thousands of messages in the group while managing and promoting several digital "Pirate Shops" that offered access to extensive libraries of downloadable games.

In its complaint, Nintendo stated that:

"Since 2019, Williams has been either directly or indirectly the owner, manager, operator, creator, administrator, supplier, and/or overseer of several online Pirate Shops, and has worked to actively promote these Pirate Shops to communities consisting of many thousands of individuals".

The filing also alleged that Williams solicited donations of Nintendo eShop gift cards and physical copies of games "to be copied and distributed" across his network. Certain shops offered "Pro" membership tiers to donors, granting exclusive access to rare titles. Additionally, Williams acted as the "primary representative and only lead member" of Missing Dumps, an initiative that used contributed eShop cards to purchase missing titles for unauthorized distribution.

Despite ignoring the proceedings, the court noted that Williams was aware of the action against him, as he had previously retained legal counsel to challenge a Google subpoena.

In her order, Judge Lauren King wrote:

“NOA [Nintendo of America] has demonstrated that Williams promoted online shops offering pirated Nintendo game files and circumvention software, encouraged others to contribute pirated Nintendo games to his pirate shops, and assisted others in distributing pirated Nintendo Switch games, even though he knew such activity violated copyright laws”.

The $4.5 million award represents the maximum statutory penalty of $150,000 per willful violation across 30 flagship Switch games, including Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Luigi’s Mansion 3, and Pikmin 4. Judge King noted that because potential lost sales could easily reach hundreds of thousands of dollars for each title, the requested sum was "not an unrealistic estimate".

In the formal decree, the court ruled:

"It is ordered and adjudged that default judgment is hereby entered against Defendant James C. Williams".

Alongside the monetary damages, the permanent injunction mandates that Williams immediately close all remaining online stores, disable associated software, and shut down any social media channels, Discord servers, and online accounts used to advertise or distribute pirated content. He is permanently barred from distributing unauthorized Nintendo games or circumvention tools in the future.