Nintendo's putting a 200,000+ member Switch piracy subreddit in the crosshairs as it seeks to identify people who helped run 'Pirate Shops'

Nintendo’s continued fight against Switch game piracy continues, as it’s now set its sights on a Nintendo Switch piracy subreddit which was recently highlighted in a lawsuit against an alleged pirate.

It was back in June (thanks, TorrentFreak) that Nintendo first filed a lawsuit against James Williams, also known as ‘Archbox.’ It alleged that he had “been involved in creating, operating, and promoting (and assisting others to create, operate, and promote) a network of unauthorized online ‘shops’ (nicknamed ‘freeshops’) which offer to the public extensive libraries of pirated Nintendo Switch games for download.” At the time, it called him “an active and prominent member of the Reddit community r/SwitchPirates,” and according to a new report from Game File, it sounds like the company is planning further investigation into the subreddit itself.

In a new court filing, it’s stated that an “extensive and diligent investigation into the operation, ownership, and control of the Pirate Shops, including efforts to determine the identity of Defendant Williams” previously took place, in which “we learned various details about the Pirate Shops and about Defendant’s involvement in them.” One of these things, it’s claimed, is that the “Defendant was the primary moderator of the ‘SwitchPirates’ Reddit community.” What’s more, it adds, “we also became aware of multiple other online actors who appeared to have a role in the Pirate Shops,” but it wasn’t able to identify or locate them at the time.

Continuing, it says that because Williams “elected not to appear in this action,” Nintendo has picked out eight third parties who it believes might be able to help identify “the unnamed individuals who worked with Mr. Williams in operating the Pirate Shops or otherwise making available to the public pirated Nintendo games.” These include Reddit, Discord, and GitHub, and Nintendo is seeking permission to deliver subpoenas (basically, written orders) to them that would require them to provide business records.

It says the subpoenas would be “limited in scope”, but ultimately “seek information confirming and identifying the account holders and the sources of any payments made, and where applicable, aggregate traffic and access statistics for the Pirate Shops’ websites and related online locations.” In the case of Reddit, Nintendo says it has “reason to believe that other accounts active in the SwitchPirates community may also have been controlled by Defendant, or else reflect other individuals who have worked alongside Defendant.”

At the time of writing, the subreddit has around 217,000 members, so it could be quite a large investigation. It’s worth noting that as things stand, Nintendo isn’t strictly saying that it’s going to shut down the subreddit, but “seek relevant information that is necessary for NOA to pursue infringement claims,” so it sounds like more claims could be filed. The legal team clearly has eyes on it, so we’ll have to see if any other action could end up being taken. Nintendo has already taken action this year against Switch emulator Yuzu, and Ryujinx disappeared from the internet after its lead developer was allegedly contacted by the company, so its team has been busy lately.

After turning the Switch into a massive emulator, Nintendo files lawsuit implying emulators are “unlawful” and only good for piracy.

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