Nintendo Of America Secures $4.5 Million Default Judgment Against Reddit Piracy

Nintendo of America has been awarded $4.5 million in a default judgment against James C. Williams, a Reddit moderator who posted online as "Archbox," according to Aftermath.

A federal judge in Seattle entered the ruling on 23 September 2026, more than two years after Nintendo first filed suit. Williams never responded to the case.

US District Judge Lauren King also ordered Williams to shut down the online stores that Nintendo says sold pirated Nintendo Switch games, The Verge reported.

Judge King's written order found that Williams promoted shops offering pirated Nintendo files and circumvention software, encouraged others to donate pirated games to those shops, and helped distribute stolen titles despite knowing it broke copyright law.

Two-Year Case Ends Without A Trial

Nintendo filed the lawsuit in Washington district court on 28 June 2024, Aftermath reported. The case is docketed as Nintendo of America Inc. v. Williams, No. 2:24-cv-00960-LK. Williams did not answer it.

An attorney appeared only once, to respond to a subpoena Nintendo sent Google, and argued that appearance should not count as answering the suit. The court clerk entered a default against Williams in November 2024.

Nintendo then asked the court for the $4.5 million judgment roughly eleven months later, in October 2025.

How Nintendo Identified Archbox

Nintendo's complaint names Williams as a leading moderator of the r/SwitchPirates subreddit, which the complaint says grew to almost 190,000 members.

Aftermath reported that Nintendo traced Williams by linking his Reddit activity to a hardware-repair request filed under his name, which gave the company his home address.

The subreddit remains active, though Williams is no longer listed as a moderator. Nintendo's complaint also quotes posts in which Williams allegedly described himself as a pirate who was not going to pay Nintendo $50 for a game.

Calculating The $4.5 Million

Nothing in that total was tested at trial. Under default judgment rules, the court simply accepted Nintendo's factual allegations as true.

The Terms Of The Injunction

The judgment orders Williams to immediately disable any online shop he runs or controls that offers pirated Switch games for download.

He must also close any Reddit, Discord, Telegram, X, Instagram or TikTok account, and any website, used to distribute pirated games or circumvention software.

Williams is barred from distributing, selling, uploading or otherwise disseminating Nintendo software or hardware going forward.

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