What just happened? Nintendo's legal actions against attempts to circumvent the Switch's copy protection have intensified lately. Not resting on its laurels after taking down Yuzu in March, the company has launched two suits against people accused of operating major hubs for hacked systems and games.
The operator of the "Modded Hardware" storefront and a moderator of the r/SwitchPirates subreddit are the latest targets of Nintendo's notoriously persistent legal team. The gaming giant filed two lawsuits at a Washington federal court against the individuals last week.
Modded Hardware is a site that mainly ships Nintendo Switch consoles hacked to run pirated games and homebrew software. The store also sells the MIG Switch devices for dumping games and playing them on flash cards inserted through the system's main card slot.
Furthermore, customers can pay to mail in their consoles for modding or buy chips to perform the procedure at home. The site's operator and the target of Nintendo's first suit – Flint, Michigan resident Ryan Daly – openly advertised his services through the Twitter account "Homebrew Homies."
The company warned Daly to close his business in March – an uncharacteristically merciful move – but the Modded Hardware operator continued his activity, prompting the lawsuit. Seeking damages, Nintendo accused Daly of trafficking hacked hardware and implied that he sold products pre-loaded with pirated games. The site remains online as of this writing.
Additionally, Nintendo accused Arizona-based r/SwitchPirates moderator James "Archbox" Williams of being the mastermind behind multiple piracy distribution channels. TorrentFreak reports that some of these shops -- Jack-in-the-Shop, Turtle in the Shop, and NekoDrive -- disappeared following a March cease-and-desist letter, but LiberaShop might still exist on Telegram.
The subreddit Williams helps moderate doesn't directly distribute pirated games or link to ROM sites, but offers extensive advice on circumventing Nintendo's copy protection. Nintendo's lawsuit includes details on how Williams openly admitted to pirating games and refusing to pay $50 for them.
The company hasn't specified how much restitution it wants from Daly and Williams, but established precedent could run the number into the millions. In March, Nintendo famously dismantled the popular Switch emulator Yuzu after its developer agreed to pay the company $2.4 million after admitting that the software primarily existed to circumvent copy protection. The 3DS emulator Citra was another casualty of the case.
Image credit: Modded Hardware