Nintendo is on the warpath once again, this time setting its sights on alleged Switch pirates on Reddit. Specifically, people found on the r/SwitchPirates subreddit.
According to a report by Game File, Nintendo became aware of the subreddit during its investigation into James “Archbox” Williams, an operator for multiple Pirate Shops, places that offered vast libraries of Nintendo games, all pirated obviously. It was during this that they found out the Williams was also a moderator for said subreddit, which has more than 217,000 members at the time of writing.
Nintendo is now trying to get a subpoena against Reddit, among other companies, in order to identify people in the subreddit. Let us be clear: Nintendo isn’t trying to get Reddit to shut down the subreddit. Instead, it plans on going after some current members within the r/SwitchPirates subreddit.
Nintendo argues in its lawsuit that there is a possibility that Williams could have other accounts active within the SwitchPirates community, controlled by him directly or by people who worked alongside him. The gaming company says and makes clear that it isn’t going after the entire community but rather, those who are associated with Pirate Shops. To then, it’s about going after the folks that have been selling modded Switch consoles and cartridges, as opposed to emulation and ROMs.
Nintendo has a reputation in the industry for being one of the most litigious gaming companies in the world, aggressively protecting its IPs with an intensity that, dare we say, borders on fanatical and zealotry. Many of you ar certainly familiar with how the company went after and shut down Yuzu, the popular Switch emulator. Not only that, it also made the entity that owned it pay a monetary settlement of US$2.4 million (~RM10.6 million), on top of ending support for the emulator.
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