Reddit Mod Ordered to Pay Nintendo $4.5M Over Pirated Switch Games

A default judgment orders James 'Archbox' Williams to pay Nintendo $4.5 million and shut down his Switch 'pirate shops' after he never answered the 2024 lawsuit.

A Washington federal court has entered a default judgment ordering James Williams, known online as 'Archbox,' to pay Nintendo of America $4.5 million in damages for distributing pirated Switch games. Nintendo sued Williams in June 2024, accusing the reported moderator of the r/SwitchPirates community of operating online 'pirate shops' offering extensive libraries of pirated games. The court also ordered him to immediately disable access to every shop he operates or controls.

Williams never responded to the lawsuit in court, which allowed Nintendo to win the full amount it requested in its October 2025 motion. Video Games Chronicle notes the judge was clear he could not claim ignorance of the case, because he had at one point hired a lawyer to object to a Google subpoena. Judge Lauren King found Nintendo demonstrated he promoted pirated game files and circumvention software while knowing the activity violated copyright law.

The damages figure reflects the maximum $150,000 per work allowed under US copyright law for willful infringement, applied to 30 first-party titles including Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Luigi's Mansion 3 and Pikmin 4. Judge King agreed the request was not unrealistic given per-game lost sales could run into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Nintendo had argued in its October 2025 motion, according to Polygon, that the sum was 'nowhere near' what would compensate the company.

According to Aftermath, citing a Game File report from November 2024, Nintendo tracked Williams down via Reddit and then linked that identity to a Nintendo account that had filed for hardware repairs, which gave the company his address. Nintendo reportedly shipped a repaired piece of hardware to his home just days before sending the cease-and-desist letter that led to the lawsuit.

The case is one piece of an aggressive legal campaign against Switch piracy. Nintendo estimates $170 million in lost game sales from piracy, according to Polygon. Earlier this month, a Dutch court ruling made it illegal to sell MIG flash cartridges that enable pirated play, and in June Nintendo sued Modded Hardware over console modding kits. Past cases include Gary Bowser's $14.5 million judgment and jail time, and a $2 million award against an unrepentant console modder.

The judgment carries a permanent injunction barring Williams from distributing pirated Nintendo games or circumvention software, and from running the social accounts, Discord servers and shops that advertised them. IGN notes Nintendo still has to collect the $4.5 million and track down Archbox to make him pay. The r/SwitchPirates community, which once counted him as a leading moderator, remains active but he no longer appears on its moderator list, and top replies there have sided against him.