Gaming · Friday, 25 September 2026
A judge orders a Reddit moderator to pay Nintendo $4.5 million. That is $150,000 for each of 30 Switch games.
Nintendo won by default against James Williams, a moderator of a forum about copied Switch games, who never answered the case. A Dutch group sues Epic over Fortnite's shop, Control Resonant launches and leaks, and Quake Champions stops being free.
$4.5 million
ordered paid to Nintendo by one Reddit moderator
The judge gave Nintendo what it asked for because Williams never answered.
$150,000
for each Switch game named in the case
Thirty games, from Animal Crossing: New Horizons to Pikmin 4, make up the total.
$2 million
paid to Nintendo by Ryan Daly, who sold modified Switch consoles
An earlier case in the same crackdown on copying.
The lead story — what happened
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A US federal judge in Washington state has ordered James Williams to pay Nintendo $4.5 million.
[1] [3] -
Williams, known online as Archbox, was a leading moderator of r/SwitchPirates, a Reddit forum about playing copied Switch games.
[1] [3] -
Nintendo said he asked people to donate Nintendo eShop gift cards and Switch games so they could be copied onto online pirate shops.
[1] -
Williams never answered the lawsuit. So the judge issued a default judgment, a ruling given because one side did not show up, on Wednesday 23 September.
[1] [2] -
The award is $150,000 for each of 30 Nintendo games, including Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Luigi's Mansion 3 and Pikmin 4.
[1] -
Nintendo told the court it could have sought several million dollars in statutory damages. Those are sums set by law for each violation, not a count of lost sales.
[3] -
Nintendo first sued in 2024. It asked the court for the $4.5 million last October, after Williams did not respond.
[1] [3] -
Judge Lauren King also ordered him to shut the pirate shops and any social media accounts used to share Switch games.
[1] -
Nintendo told the court the sum was nowhere near enough to make up for what he had done.
[3] -
It is the latest in a run of Nintendo lawsuits over copied games. Ryan Daly, who sold modified Switch consoles, was earlier made to pay $2 million.
[2] -
Nintendo also recently won a case in the Netherlands, where a court ruled that selling Mig flash cartridges, which play copied games, is illegal.
[1] -
Kotaku called the award a potentially life-ruinous amount for one person. On the forum, top-voted replies turned on Williams for selling copied games.
[2] [3]
Who is involved
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Nintendo of America
the US arm of the Japanese company that makes the Switch; it sued in 2024 and won
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James Williams (Archbox)
a moderator of the r/SwitchPirates Reddit forum; he never answered the case and now owes $4.5 million
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Lauren King
a US district judge in Washington state; she issued the default judgment
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Ryan Daly
a seller of modified Switch consoles; an earlier target who paid Nintendo $2 million
How it unfolded
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2024 Nintendo sues Williams over Switch pirate shops
[1] -
October 2025 Nintendo asks for a $4.5 million default judgment after he does not respond
[1] [3] -
23 September 2026 The judge awards the full sum and orders the shops shut
[1]
Where this points
Watch whether any of the $4.5 million is ever paid; Kotaku calls the sum potentially life-ruinous for one person.
What is pushing on the whole day
The bar and the word are our reading of how hard each one is pushing today. The arrow is where it is heading. The evidence is in the stories below.
Nintendo won $4.5 million from a Reddit moderator who ran Switch pirate shops.
A Dutch regulator fined Epic for countdown timers and buy-now wording aimed at children.
Bungie will return removed parts of Destiny 2 to the game for free.
Bit Reactor, the studio behind Star Wars Zero Company, furloughed about 80% of its staff before launch.
The rest of the day
12 more stories on this beat.
Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.
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02
Dutch group sues Epic over Fortnite's shop
Stichting Massaschade & Consument, a Dutch consumer group, has filed a class action against Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite.
[4] It speaks for Dutch players who played Fortnite before they turned 21, and wants more than 100 million euros in refunds and damages.[4] In 2024 the ACM, the Dutch consumer regulator, fined Epic 1,125,000 euros for shop design that pressured children.[4] A Rotterdam court upheld that fine in January.[4] The group has offered to negotiate before it goes to court.[4] - Fine for 'buy now' and 'get it now' wording€562,500 · 50%
- Fine for countdown timers€562,500 · 50%
The 2024 fine came in two equal halves, one for each shop practice the Dutch regulator ruled unfair. Why it matters — The group's chair says a regulator found Epic broke the rules and a court confirmed it, so the next step is paying players back.
[4] Epic says under-16s in the Netherlands cannot spend real money without a parent's consent, and that its shop has no timer.[4] -
03
Control Resonant launches, and leaks
Control Resonant, the new action game from Remedy, the studio behind Alan Wake and Max Payne, went on sale on 24 September for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S.
[5] Cracked copies were online the same day.[5] On piracy forums and Reddit, some people who usually copy games said they would pay for this one to help Remedy.[5] IGN notes Alan Wake 2 took over a year to make a profit.[5] Remedy's multiplayer game FBC: Firebreak stopped getting new content in under a year.[5] Why it matters — Remedy's chief executive, Jean-Charles Gaudechon, called it a must-have day-one purchase, and in August it had 1.5 million wishlists.
[5] IGN's launch report carries no sales figure.[5] -
04
Star Wars Zero Company sells about a million
Star Wars Zero Company, a squad tactics game published by EA, has sold about 1 million copies since its August launch.
[6] That is an estimate by Rhys Elliott of Alinea Analytics, a firm that tracks game sales, who puts its takings at about $50 million.[6] Bit Reactor, the studio that made it, furloughed many of its workers before launch after running out of most of its money.[6] Game File reported 80% of its staff were sent home.[6] - Steam69.9%
- PlayStation19.9%
- Xbox and Xbox PC10.2%
Where the estimated one million copies were sold, by store. Why it matters — EA is now privately owned and does not have to publish sales, so no official figure is expected.
[6] Nine in ten players are in North America or Europe, and Chinese reviews on Steam are only 57% positive, many citing missing voices and languages.[6] -
05
Quake Champions stops being free
Bethesda and id Software have released patch 1.31 for Quake Champions, an online shooter that has been free to play since 2018.
[7] They say no more content updates are planned.[7] The game now becomes a paid game, sold only on Steam for $9.99, and Steam players who already had it do not pay again.[7] All 30 seasons of past content and every champion are unlocked for everyone.[7] Battle passes and all in-game purchases are gone.[7] Why it matters — id Software, the studio behind Doom, was reportedly cut in half in Xbox's July layoffs, with most of its coders let go.
[7] Players who had the game on the Microsoft Store must link a Bethesda.net account to Steam to get the new version.[7] -
06
Destiny 2's return will be free, but thin
Bungie, the Sony-owned studio behind Destiny 2, is bringing back campaigns, raids and places it had removed from the game.
[8] A Forbes report by Paul Tassi, cited by Eurogamer, adds that all of it will be free, even for players who never owned it.[8] The seasons that ran alongside those campaigns will not return, and nor will seasonal events.[8] Tassi guesses it will arrive sometime next year.[8] Why it matters — Regular updates are not coming back: Bungie laid off almost the whole Destiny 2 team, and no patches are due before the return except for major bugs.
[8] A big update for Marathon, Bungie's other game, is expected in December.[8] -
07
Dawnwalker adds an easier mode in October
The Blood of Dawnwalker, a vampire role-playing game from Rebel Wolves, a studio started by former CD Projekt Red developers, gets its first big patch in early October.
[9] Game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz told Eurogamer it adds a new easiest difficulty for people who want the story without the fighting.[9] The current Story mode will be renamed, making five levels in all.[9] The patch also changes how the game picks targets, and makes running away from fights smoother.[9] Why it matters — Rebel Wolves is also exploring a New Game Plus mode, a way to replay the game keeping what you earned.
[9] Performance on PC was a major complaint in Steam reviews, and Tomaszkiewicz said the team is still working on it.[9] -
08
A clip hints Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire return
An official Pokemon social media account posted 30 seconds of Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, games first released in 2002.
[10] The picture was sharper than the original Game Boy Advance hardware could show.[10] Fans read it as a sign the games are coming to Nintendo's Switch consoles, which record exactly the last 30 seconds of play, the length of the clip.[10] Nothing has been announced.[10] Why it matters — This year's Switch releases of Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen sold more than 4 million copies in six weeks, Eurogamer reports.
[10] Dataminers say those releases already carried support for all three games of the same generation.[10] -
09
Discord's age checks meet a betting advert
Discord, the chat app many players use, began its new age checks on 23 September.
[13] It guesses most users' ages from signals such as how old an account is, its servers and the games it plays.[13] It says more than 90% of users will never be asked to prove their age.[13] The same day, American users started seeing sponsored adverts for FanDuel, a sports betting site that is illegal to use under 21, or under 18 in some places.[13] Why it matters — Social media users assumed the two were linked, and GameSpot asked Discord about it but had no answer when it published.
[13] The betting adverts can be switched off under a setting called Real Money Gaming.[13] -
10
Rockstar sells a Grand Theft Auto 6 box
Rockstar Games has opened pre-orders for a box of Grand Theft Auto 6 collectables.
[11] It holds a figure of Macca the Gator, Oakley sunglasses, a bag, a cap, a shot glass, pins, stickers and a poster with a map of Leonida, the game's version of Florida.[11] Eurogamer points out that a mirror, a razor-blade keychain and a spoon in the box look like a joke about drug use.[11] Rockstar's own page says nothing about it.[11] Why it matters — Grand Theft Auto is an adult series with drug storylines, and Eurogamer says the joke is presumably deliberate.
[11] -
11
Beyond Good & Evil 2 is still alive
Beyond Good & Evil 2, a Ubisoft adventure game that has been in development for many years, is still being made.
[12] Rik Godwin, lead writer at Ubisoft Bordeaux, said this week that he joined it a few months ago in a support role.[12] Ubisoft Montpellier leads the game under creative director Fawzi Mesmar.[12] It survived Ubisoft's cull of projects earlier this year, which cancelled a Prince of Persia remake.[12] Why it matters — Ubisoft Bordeaux led Assassin's Creed Mirage and made Claws of Awaji, the only expansion for Assassin's Creed Shadows.
[12] IGN says it is still not clear when the game will come out, or whether it keeps its name.[12] -
12
Rocket League starts Season 24
Rocket League, the car-football game made by Psyonix and Epic Games, started Season 24 on 23 September.
[14] It adds Honor Duel, a new one-against-one feature, and a Black Market Trade-In.[14] New cars arrive in the Rocket Pass, the game's season reward track.[14] The season runs on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC through Steam.[14] Why it matters — Epic, which makes Rocket League with Psyonix, is the same company the Dutch consumer group is suing over Fortnite's shop.
[14] [4] -
13
Young Suns gets a November date
Young Suns, a game about building a spaceship home in orbit around Jupiter, now comes out on 3 November.
[15] Its date was shown at the PC Gaming Show Tokyo Direct, an online showcase of PC games.[15] One to four people can play together, fixing up a ship, exploring stations and ruins, and taking quests from a cast of characters.[15] PC Gamer calls it an optimistic game for times that feel less than optimistic.[15] Why it matters — It is built around making a home in space and getting to know its characters, not around fighting.
[15] Players can add it to their Steam wishlist now, the list a store uses to count how many people are waiting.[15]
When a loss is hard to count, the law puts a price on each wrong
Nintendo never had to prove what the copying cost it: the judge awarded $150,000 for each of 30 games.
The twist
Nintendo did not have to show how many sales it lost. It only had to show which games were copied, because the law allows a set price for each one.
The picture
How it works
- A company says someone copied its games
- The sales it really lost are hard to prove
- So the law allows a set sum for each game copied
- The award is that sum times the number of games
- 30 games at $150,000 each came to $4.5 million
The same force, elsewhere today
Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.
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Dutch group sues Epic over Fortnite's shop
The Dutch regulator fined Epic 562,500 euros for its buy-now wording and the same again for its countdown timers, one set sum per practice rather than a count of what children spent.
Where you've seen this
Parking tickets
the charge is fixed per offence, whatever the blocked space actually cost anyone
Flight delays in Europe
airlines owe a set sum per passenger by flight distance, not the cost of the meeting each passenger missed
Library late fees
a set amount per book per day, not the value to the reader who was waiting for it
The catch
A set sum only warns other people if it gets paid. A person who cannot pay $4.5 million still owes it, and the company may see little of it.
And the whole of it
Neither Nintendo nor the judge invented the idea of a set sum for each game; lawmakers wrote it into copyright law long before this case. The forum users, the company and the court all acted under that rule, and none of them could change it.
What is really going on
Nintendo won $4.5 million from James Williams, a Reddit moderator who never answered its lawsuit, at $150,000 for each of 30 games.
Why it works on us — A single number like $4.5 million reads like a measure of the harm, when it is 30 games multiplied by a fixed sum.
Who gains
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Nintendo
— The court ordered Williams to shut his pirate shops and any social media accounts used to share Switch games.
[1] -
Valve's Steam store
— Quake Champions will now be sold only on Steam, and 69.9% of Star Wars Zero Company's estimated sales came through it.
[7] [6] -
Remedy
— Some people who usually copy games said on piracy forums they would pay for Control Resonant to help the studio.
[5] -
FanDuel, a sports betting site
— Its sponsored adverts reached Discord's American users on the day Discord began checking ages.
[13] -
Players of Quake Champions and Destiny 2
— Quake unlocked 30 seasons of content for everyone, and Destiny 2's returning campaigns and raids will be free to all.
[7] [8]
Who pays
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James Williams
— He owes Nintendo $4.5 million and must close his shops, after never answering the case.
[1] -
Epic Games
— It faces a claim of more than 100 million euros on top of a 1,125,000 euro fine that a Dutch court upheld in January.
[4] -
Staff at Bit Reactor
— Game File reported 80% were furloughed before Star Wars Zero Company came out, after the studio ran out of most of its money.
[6] -
The Destiny 2 team
— Almost all of them were laid off, and Eurogamer says bringing back seasonal events would need a team that no longer exists.
[8] -
Chinese-speaking Zero Company players
— The game lacks their voices and languages, and its Chinese Steam reviews are only 57% positive.
[6]
What nobody knows yet
Open questions from across today’s stories — ours included.
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01
Whether Nintendo will ever collect the $4.5 million.
Williams never answered the case, and nothing published says what he could pay; Kotaku calls the sum potentially life-ruinous for one person.
[2] -
02
Whether Epic settles with the Dutch group or goes to court.
The group served notice and offered to negotiate first; it goes to court only if talks fail.
[4] -
03
How the Dutch group reached more than 100 million euros.
GamesIndustry.biz reports the total and who the claim covers, but not how the figure was worked out.
[4] -
04
How well Control Resonant is selling.
It went on sale on 24 September and cracked copies appeared the same day; IGN's launch report gives only the 1.5 million wishlists counted in August.
[5] -
05
What Star Wars Zero Company really sold.
The one million is an analyst's estimate, and EA is now private and under no duty to publish figures.
[6] -
06
When the removed parts of Destiny 2 come back.
The only timing is a reporter's guess of sometime next year, and the team that ran the game has mostly been laid off.
[8] -
07
Whether Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire are really coming to the Switch.
A 30-second clip and datamined files point that way, and nothing has been announced.
[10] -
08
Whether Discord's betting adverts were timed to its age checks.
GameSpot asked Discord about the FanDuel sponsorship and had no answer when it published.
[13]
Some people who usually copy games for free said on piracy forums that they would pay for Control Resonant, to help Remedy, the studio that made it.
Also true today
- Bungie will bring back the campaigns, raids and places it removed from Destiny 2, free for every player, including those who never bought them.
- In its last update, Quake Champions unlocked all 30 seasons of past content and every champion for everyone, and took out every in-game purchase.
- The Blood of Dawnwalker is adding an easier mode in early October, for players who want its story without the fighting.
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