Nintendo has won a $4.5 million judgment against a Reddit moderator accused of selling and distributing pirated Nintendo Switch games, bringing a two-year legal fight to a close.
Nintendo of America sued James “Archbox” Williams in June 2024, alleging that he operated and promoted websites that distributed extensive libraries of pirated Switch games. A Washington district court has now awarded Nintendo the $4.5 million in damages it requested, while also ordering Williams to shut down the online shops covered by the case.
But there is an important detail behind the headline: this was a default judgment. Williams did not respond to the lawsuit in court, meaning Nintendo won the amount it had requested without the case proceeding to a contested trial.
So, what exactly happened in the Nintendo-Reddit lawsuit, and how did a Reddit moderator end up owing Nintendo $4.5 million?
Emmanuel Umahi
Who is James “Archbox” Williams?
James Williams, who goes by “Archbox” online, was reportedly a moderator of the r/SwitchPirates subreddit, a community focused on Nintendo Switch piracy.
Nintendo's allegations, however, went considerably further than his activity on Reddit.
The company described Williams as the “operator, overseer, and driving force behind several Pirate Shops”, which Nintendo said distributed large numbers of Nintendo Switch games illegally.
The Switch Pirates subreddit is still active, although Williams no longer appears to be listed among its moderators.
Nintendo also went to considerable lengths to identify Williams. According to Game File's reporting from November 2024, Nintendo tracked him down through Reddit and connected his online identity to a Nintendo account that had previously requested hardware repairs.
That connection gave Nintendo an address for Williams. The company then reportedly sent a repaired piece of hardware to that address just days before sending a cease-and-desist notice that eventually preceded the lawsuit.
It's a striking detail in a case that otherwise unfolded largely through online communities and piracy websites: Nintendo was able to connect an online pseudonym to a real-world identity through its own customer records.
Why did Nintendo sue the Reddit moderator?
Nintendo filed the lawsuit on June 28, 2024, in a Washington district court, accusing Williams of copyright infringement and involvement in the distribution of unauthorized Switch games.
The company's lawyers were pursuing more than just the person behind a Reddit account. Nintendo alleged that Williams operated or controlled online shops where users could download extensive libraries of pirated Switch games.
That was part of a broader Nintendo crackdown on the infrastructure surrounding Switch piracy.
Over the years, Nintendo has gone after piracy websites, hardware hackers, and pirate software sellers. The company has also taken legal action against people who livestreamed pirated Switch games.
Nintendo's June 2024 lawsuit against Williams came alongside another case against Modded Hardware, a company that sold kits designed to modify Nintendo Switch consoles to run pirated games.
The two cases show the different parts of the piracy ecosystem Nintendo has been targeting: the people distributing games and the hardware and software that help those games run.
Emmanuel Umahi
Why does Archbox owe Nintendo $4.5 million?
Nintendo of America was ultimately awarded $4.5 million in damages, which is the same amount the company requested in its October 2025 filings seeking a default judgment.
Nintendo had argued that the damages it was requesting were “nowhere near an amount that would compensate NOA for the seriousness of the Defendant's conduct.”
The company also said it could have sought “several million dollars” more in statutory damages for alleged DMCA violations, but chose not to pursue those additional damages.
That $4.5 million request has now become the final judgment. The court had already entered a default against him in earlier proceedings, and the latest ruling formally awarded Nintendo the damages it had requested.
What did the court order Williams to do?
The $4.5 million isn't the only consequence. The court also ordered Williams to shut down the online shops Nintendo alleged he operated.
The default judgment specifically states, “To effectuate this injunction, Williams shall 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.”
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