Nintendo is intensifying its battle against Switch console piracy by involving the U.S. District Court to request company records to pinpoint alleged pirates. This crackdown notably targets a subreddit, SwitchPirates, which has attracted over 190,000 members, as noted by Game File.

The pursuit of pirates springs from Nintendo’s broader lawsuit against James ‘Archbox’ Williams on several piracy-related charges. Nintendo secured a default judgment after Williams failed to appear in court.

“Mr. Williams’s failure to engage in this lawsuit prevents [Nintendo of America] from conducting direct discovery or deposing him,” Nintendo expressed in the court filings. The gaming giant stressed the need for third-party discovery to identify associates of Williams who might have helped operate pirated game shops or distributed pirated Nintendo games. To this end, Nintendo has moved to subpoena major tech entities including Cloudflare, Discord, GitHub, Google, and Reddit.

The court documents also reveal that Williams, who used the alias ‘Archbox,’ potentially managed other accounts or collaborated with other individuals in the SwitchPirates community to engage in piracy.

Furthermore, Nintendo has sought information from domain registrars such as GoDaddy, NameCheap, and Tucows, which is crucial for advancing its copyright infringement claims.

In addition to tackling online piracy, Nintendo has taken legal actions against various platforms and individuals this year. It forced the shutdown of the Switch emulator Ryujinx and issued a copyright strike against a YouTube channel that reviewed retro handheld emulators.

Moreover, Nintendo has filed a lawsuit against streamer Jesse ‘Every Game Guru’ Keighin for illegally streaming gameplay of ten unreleased games in November. The company is also embroiled in litigation against Palworld developer Pocketpair, filed in September, over alleged patent infringements, seeking at least $65,000 in damages and an injunction.

Through these measures, Nintendo continues to uphold its commitment to safeguarding its intellectual property and curbing piracy on multiple fronts.