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[Draugoth]

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Nintendo's ongoing fight against Switch piracy has a new target in its sights — and that's the r/SwitchPirates subreddit.

As first reported by Stephen Totillo in Game File, Nintendo's recent federal court filing (dated November 21) highlights how the company is now taking aim at one of the largest hubs for Switch-related piracy chatter.

With over 200,000 members, the sizeable Reddit community is now very much in Nintendo’s crosshairs, chiefly due to being linked to alleged modder James “Archbox” Williams. He's a modder who previously ran what Nintendo describes as a “vast network of Pirate Shops”.

Nintendo's legal filing alleges that Williams, who is said to have served as a primary moderator of the r/SwitchPirates subreddit, used the platform as a way to promote pirated Switch games and related tools designed to circumvent console security.

Nintendo goes on to claim that this subreddit has played a central role in fostering Switch piracy, describing it as a place where pseudonymous users can come together and coordinate the distribution of illegal content (such as Switch ROMs).

From the filing:

“Reddit, Inc. operates a social media platform where users, often using pseudonyms, may post to different forums known as communities or ‘subreddits.’ Defendant was a primary moderator of the SwitchPirates community, under the name ‘Archbox,’ which boasted more than 190,000 members.”

Source

 

[Eimran]

 

[StereoVsn]

Kind of surprised it took them this long considering how litigious Nintendo has become.

Then again I guess they were gathering their receipts.

 

[Idleyes]

There are no PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X emulators, so it’s puzzling why Nintendo invests so much time and money pursuing lawsuits where the returns are questionable. Why not channel those resources into developing a cutting-edge console? Imagine a next-gen system capable of showcasing games like Super Mario, Metroid & Zelda in Unreal Engine 5 (or their own engine) producing innovative and visually stunning experiences that could redefine the franchise and captivate audiences? Nintendo has the talent and IPs to lead the gaming industry forward but they'd rather sell easily reproducible trash and sue when someone actually copies it.

 

[Closer]

There are no PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X emulators, so it’s puzzling why Nintendo invests so much time and money pursuing lawsuits where the returns are questionable. Why not channel those resources into developing a cutting-edge console?

Because the amount of time and money they spend on this makes no dent on anything related to hardware and software building.

 

[cireza]

There are no PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X emulators, so it’s puzzling why Nintendo invests so much time and money pursuing lawsuits where the returns are questionable. Why not channel those resources into developing a cutting-edge console? Imagine a next-gen system capable of showcasing games like Super Mario, Metroid & Zelda in Unreal Engine 5 (or their own engine) producing innovative and visually stunning experiences that could redefine the franchise and captivate audiences? Nintendo has the talent and IPs to lead the gaming industry forward but they'd rather sell easily reproducible trash and sue when someone actually copies it.

It simply doesn't work for them, they calculated this. The disadvantages simply don't outweigh the benefit, so it is still their preferred solution.

 

[SweetTooth]

Well maybe they should have uped the specs a little to be harder to pirate.

Its funny that Mario Kart 9 will run better emulated than on Switch 2 DAY ONE lmao

 

[Rawbutt Jellybean]

There are no PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X emulators, so it’s puzzling why Nintendo invests so much time and money pursuing lawsuits where the returns are questionable. Why not channel those resources into developing a cutting-edge console? Imagine a next-gen system capable of showcasing games like Super Mario, Metroid & Zelda in Unreal Engine 5 (or their own engine) producing innovative and visually stunning experiences that could redefine the franchise and captivate audiences? Nintendo has the talent and IPs to lead the gaming industry forward but they'd rather sell easily reproducible trash and sue when someone actually copies it.

Because what they're doing now is working. Not long until they have the best selling system of all time.

No reason to split back into 2 platforms since they're definitely not leaving the handheld market that they've dominated for 35+ years.

 

[Idleyes]

Yeah, I understand everything that's been said, especially considering Nintendo's strategy seems focused more on fun than hardware. I just disagree with the idea that Nintendo's IPs wouldn’t be significantly more fun on better hardware.

 

[Idleyes]

Alright, I’ll admit it, I dreamed last night that I was playing a remastered version of Blaster Master on a Nintendo console shaped like a giant mushroom. The graphics looked like they were straight out of a Disney Pixar movie and I was just mad at Nintendo when I woke up this morning. I'll leave them alone now.

 

[Midn1ght]

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

There are no PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X emulators

Disagree.

You can use the console to play your "backed up" media (in the PS5's case). Xbox has had an emulator for the series x for years in the form of PC's where you can play any of the xbox console specific exclusives you would want.

"NiNtENdo aFTer MuH WaReZZZZZ" Yeah...they should be. Its their product, they can (and should) protect it in any way possible. It is an up hill battle that they will NEVER win...but they should at least fight.

 

[winjer]

Nintendo is now a law firm, that occasionally also makes videogames.

 

[Davevil]

 

[AREYOUOKAY?]

Disagree.

You can use the console to play your "backed up" media (in the PS5's case). Xbox has had an emulator for the series x for years in the form of PC's where you can play any of the xbox console specific exclusives you would want.

"NiNtENdo aFTer MuH WaReZZZZZ" Yeah...they should be. It’s their product, they can (and should) protect it in any way possible. It is an up hill battle that they will NEVER win...but they should at least fight.

Yeah current gen console emulators are pretty redundant and pointless if you think about it. Is it really worth developing something for just a few console exclusives especially when they could potentially arrive on PC in the future?

Then again they mainly want them for the piracy aspect not things like fancy fps mods, but they would never admit to that.

 

[Davevil]

Well maybe they should have uped the specs a little to be harder to pirate.

Its funny that Mario Kart 9 will run better emulated than on Switch 2 DAY ONE lmao

are you Biff Tannen?

 

[bender]

Even easier when you don't make games anymore.

 

[dave_d]

Nintendo is now a law firm, that occasionally also makes videogames.

Oh, so an riff on that old harvard joke. (Harvard is an investment fund that runs a college on the side.)

 

[dave_d]

If Nintendo would just make Buster's Bad Dream available on the switch I wouldn't be so tempted to get the bootleg cart version. (I haven't but I'm tempted.)

 

[AREYOUOKAY?]

Even easier when you don't make games anymore.

 

[SweetTooth]

are you Biff Tannen?

Are you Mario?

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

Even easier when you don't make games anymore.

We should at least recognize that they made three games: HL1, HL2, and HL Alex. Everything else in the valve catalogue was purchased teams/purchased IP that they polished* and released as Valve IP.
Mr. Newell is an extremely intelligent man (and is the sole source of accountability at valve...no bucks passed whatsoever) and he knows you don't make money on the games....you make money from folks that cannot manage complicated tasks like patch updates* and TeamSpeak/Ventrilo*.

*(extremely reductive yes...but accurate).

 

[Midn1ght]

Even easier when you don't make games anymore.

Living his best life.

 

[bender]

Living his best life.

 

[ReyBrujo]

There are no PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X emulators, so it’s puzzling why Nintendo invests so much time and money pursuing lawsuits where the returns are questionable. Why not channel those resources into developing a cutting-edge console? Imagine a next-gen system capable of showcasing games like Super Mario, Metroid & Zelda in Unreal Engine 5 (or their own engine) producing innovative and visually stunning experiences that could redefine the franchise and captivate audiences? Nintendo has the talent and IPs to lead the gaming industry forward but they'd rather sell easily reproducible trash and sue when someone actually copies it.

It's kind of worthless to write an emulator for just 29 games.

 

[Stevonidas]

r/SwitchPirates

Nintendo had better be careful. They’re messing around with obvious geniuses here.

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

It's kind of worthless to write an emulator for just 29 games.

This is the saddest list I’ve seen in awhile.

 

[Idleyes]

Disagree.

You can use the console to play your "backed up" media (in the PS5's case). Xbox has had an emulator for the series x for years in the form of PC's where you can play any of the xbox console specific exclusives you would want.

"NiNtENdo aFTer MuH WaReZZZZZ" Yeah...they should be. Its their product, they can (and should) protect it in any way possible. It is an up hill battle that they will NEVER win...but they should at least fight.

Sure, believe whatever you want—like how the PS5 is totally an emulator, and the PC is just an Xbox Series X emulator.

My point is that games like Super Mario, Zelda, and Metroid could be significantly better if Nintendo invested more effort. However, they have no real incentive to do so because consumers haven’t demanded it yet.

 

[Musashipan]

Good job Nintendo
Keep chasing those criminals

 

[Idleyes]

It's kind of worthless to write an emulator for just 29 games.

But they’re not doing it for the games, it’s all for educational purposes.

 

[kiphalfton]

Kind of surprised it took them this long considering how litigious Nintendo has become.

Then again I guess they were gathering their receipts.

They went after the whales, now they're going after small fry.

Wouldn't be that big of an issue if Nintendo hardware weren't so crappy.

 

[Idleyes]

Wouldn't be that big of an issue if Nintendo hardware weren't so crappy.

Word up, son! Nintendo’s making it look like they care more about protecting their IP for profit than creating great devices and games for profit.

 

[Idleyes]

I’d bet my wife’s underwear that every one of these folks jumping to defend Nintendo has a Switch that spent most of last season warming the bench.

 

[Kataploom]

I remember the days pirates had their own forums in some obscure place in the web, instead of using the most high profile one on the history of humanity

 

[Idleyes]

Those sites got nuked by Nintendo. It's why they're now all running around in the open like roaches with the lights cut on.

 

[Kadve]

Nintendo is now seeking an okay from the court to subpoena business records from internet domain companies Name Cheap, Go Daddy and Tucows, as well as Cloudflare, Github, Discord, Google, and Reddit to identify alleged associates of Williams.

They are not targeting Reddit specifically here btw. They just want names from these sites while chasing one man.

 

[Saber]

I wonder if they one day will attack people from smogon and retard serebii. Would be hilarious.