Why was Archbox ordered to pay $4.5 million?

Nintendo accused him of running several pirate Switch game shops, promoting them on r/SwitchPirates, helping users install circumvention software and collecting eShop gift card 'donations' to buy games that were decrypted and added to the shops. He never responded, so the judge awarded the statutory maximum of $150,000 for each of 30 games.

How did Nintendo find out who he was?

According to Tom's Hardware, Nintendo and its lawyers tracked his Archbox persona on Reddit and matched the details to its internal database, which linked it to a Nintendo account tied to a handheld sent in for repair. A few days after the console was returned to his address, Nintendo sent a cease-and-desist letter.

Is this case about emulators?

Not directly. It targeted pirate shops, distribution of pirated games and promotion of circumvention tools, not emulators themselves. It does show Nintendo will trace anonymous online identities to real people and sue those who share pirated games and circumvention tools.

Will Nintendo actually get the $4.5 million?

Unclear. TorrentFreak notes the defendant never responded, so collecting will likely be hard. His Reddit account is already deleted, and most of the shops named in the complaint closed after Nintendo's cease-and-desist letter in March 2024.

r/SwitchPirates mod Archbox ordered to pay Nintendo $4.5M (Sep 2026)

In late September 2026, a federal court in Washington state ordered James C. Williams, known as Archbox and a moderator of the r/SwitchPirates subreddit, to pay Nintendo $4.5 million and issued a permanent injunction against him. It's a default judgment: Williams never answered the complaint, and Judge Lauren King granted Nintendo's request in full. Nintendo accused him of running several pirate Switch game shops, and the clue that revealed his real identity was a Nintendo account tied to a console he had sent in for repair.

How the case unfolded

When	What happened
March 2024	Nintendo sends a cease-and-desist letter; most of the shops named in the complaint shut down afterward
June 2024	Nintendo sues Williams, an Arizona resident, in a Washington federal court. The same day it sues Modded Hardware, a seller of modded consoles
September 2025	The Modded Hardware case ends in a $2 million settlement
October 2025	With Williams still not responding, Nintendo asks for a default judgment
Late September 2026	The judge grants it: $4.5 million in damages plus a permanent injunction

What Nintendo alleged

According to TorrentFreak, Nintendo accused Williams of:

running several "shops" offering large libraries of pirated Switch games to the public;
promoting those shops on r/SwitchPirates, where he was a leading moderator;
helping users install circumvention software;
collecting eShop gift card "donations" to buy games that were then decrypted and added to the shops.

The order quotes his Reddit posts, including one where he calls himself a "pirate" who "[is]n't going to give Nintendo $50 for a game". The judge found the infringement willful.

How $4.5 million was calculated

Nintendo asked for the statutory maximum under US copyright law, $150,000 per title, for 30 games, including The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The judge reasoned that at roughly $50 per game, lost sales could easily reach hundreds of thousands of dollars, so the maximum was "not an unrealistic estimate", and the award also served as punishment. As a "gesture of reasonableness", Nintendo didn't ask for DMCA damages or attorneys' fees, which the judge noted in its favor.

What the injunction covers

He may not distribute any pirated Nintendo game, not just the 30 listed, or any software that circumvents protections on Nintendo games and consoles.
He may not encourage others to download pirated games or circumvention tools.
He must immediately disable all pirate shops he runs or controls, plus the Reddit, Instagram, X, TikTok, Discord and Telegram accounts used to distribute or promote them.

TorrentFreak points out there's little left to disable: his Reddit account is already self-deleted and the shops closed long ago.

How Nintendo found him

Per the filings described by Tom's Hardware, Nintendo and its lawyers tracked the Archbox persona on Reddit and matched the details against Nintendo's own database. That led to a Nintendo account tied to a handheld sent in for repairs. A few days after the console was shipped back to his address, Nintendo sent a cease-and-desist letter. He first replied by email saying he would cooperate, then went silent.

How much the ruling means

None of the legal claims were tested. Because Williams didn't respond, the court took the complaint's allegations as true, giving Nintendo an uncontested win. TorrentFreak also expects the $4.5 million to be hard to collect from an unresponsive defendant. Still, Nintendo said it wanted to "put a stop to" his activities, and the case clearly doubles as a warning to others.

What this means for players

This case wasn't about emulators. It targeted pirate shops and the distribution and promotion of circumvention tools. It shows two things: anonymity doesn't protect people who share pirated games and hacking tools online, and Nintendo's own account and repair records can become evidence. For how the law treats this in different places, read are Switch emulators legal. For what keys and firmware are, see keys and firmware explained. And for sites offering "free games" or bundled packs, see how to spot fake emulator sites.

US court orders r/SwitchPirates moderator Archbox to pay Nintendo $4.5 million

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