After shutting down notable Nintendo Switch emulators like Yuzu earlier this year, Nintendo's legal campaign appears to be just getting started. Now, the company is turning its attention to Nintendo Switch piracy communities on sites like Reddit.
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In a legal filing in Washington against Switch modder James “Archbox” Williams, Nintendo outlined how it plans to target “Pirate Shops” that offer illegal access to games and hardware. The document specifically mentions a subreddit called SwitchPirates, of which Williams was the main moderator.
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The subreddit, which bills itself as “A piracy community, for pirates,” has more than 200,000 members. While it no longer provides explicit links to pirated content, it still focuses on modding Nintendo Switch hardware, homebrews, and of course, pirated copies of games. Several Discord, though they were all eventually shut down for illegal activities.
To be clear, Nintendo is not planning to take legal action against the users in these communities, but rather the people behind the Pirate Shops. The document referenced above is a request to subpoena GoDaddy, Cloudflare, GitHub, Discord, Reddit , and others to identify any co-conspirators.
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For emulation enthusiasts, there is a silver lining. Nintendo's allegations relate to Williams and his associates selling modified Nintendo Switch consoles and cartridges preloaded with pirated games, not the emulation itself. For now, however, emulation and ROMs for private and personal use will remain a legal gray area.
Source: androidauthority
