Nintendo Escalates Anti-Piracy Campaign With Lawsuit Against Modded Hardware

Nintendo ADR‘s NTDOY legal offensive against alleged Nintendo Switch pirates continues, with the latest lawsuit targeting Modded Hardware, a modding company.

The suit alleges Modded Hardware not only provides the necessary hardware and firmware for creating and playing pirated games but also distributes pirated copies of Nintendo games.

See Also: Garry’s Mod Under Fire: Nintendo Orders Massive Content Purge

According to TorrentFreak, Nintendo reached out to Modded Hardware owner Ryan Daly in March 2024, offering a chance to cease operations.

Despite an agreement to stop, Modded Hardware continued its business, leading Nintendo to issue a final warning in May 2024. With no response, Nintendo filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Seattle, Washington, seeking the immediate closure of Modded Hardware and damages.

Nintendo’s lawsuit claims: “Typically, when a customer purchases a hacked console or the circumvention services, Defendant preinstalls on the console a portfolio of ready-to-play pirated games, including some of Nintendo's most popular titles such as its Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid games.”

In a separate case, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against James Williams, known online as Archbox, for allegedly operating several “pirate shops” that sell illegal copies of Nintendo games. The lawsuit also cites Williams’ role as a moderator in the SwitchPirates Reddit community, where he reportedly promoted these pirate shops and offered technical advice on using pirated games.

Nintendo’s legal actions are part of a broader strategy to protect its intellectual property. This year, it targeted 8,500 copies of the Switch emulator Yuzu and took legal action against Tropic Haze, creator of the emulator, after The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was pirated one million times before release.

Previous successful lawsuits include a $2.1 million damages award from RomUniverse in 2021 and over $12 million in damages from another case in 2018. Nintendo also blocked the release of the Dolphin emulator on Steam.

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