Just about a year ago, Nintendo sought legal action against a streamer who was garnering popularity by playing Nintendo games prior to their official release date. The streamer, Jesse Keighin, who goes by the handle of Every Game Guru, bragged about playing pirated copies of games on Nintendo Switch emulators. According to last year's lawsuit, Nintendo's legal team had reached out to Keighin, who responded by writing a letter claiming that they had a thousand burner channels, and would keep up streaming the pirated games no matter what.

Nintendo was unable to physically get in contact with Keighin, and was eventually forced to reach out via email and attempted visits to Keighin's family. As there was no response by the defendant, a Colorado judge ruled in favor of Nintendo. The defendant now owes Nintendo $17,500 in damages, though Nintendo's request for a permanent injunction and for the defendant to destroy all circumvention devices was denied, as it was too broad of a subject to apply to just emulators on a computer.

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[ChronosNotashi]

The hubris of the pirate community these days is disappointing. Too much poking the bear ending in tears

I've said it once, I'll say it again: "They all think they're Jack Sparrow, when in reality they're John Rackham." One of these days, that hubris to going to come back to bite the entire video game piracy scene in the ass, and possibly take the third-party emulation scene with it.

And they wonder why groups like Pretendo Network and the Ahazar devs try so hard to distance themselves from piracy on the surface level.

 

[eskinner3742]

 

[SolidSonicTH]

How do I turn myself in for years of illegal game copying?

 

[Noctosphere]

 

[1inf]

> attempted visits to Keighin's family. ​

 

[anon730]

How could they even lose with their army of lawyers against 1 lone nerd anyway?

They waste so much money on these lawyers. I wouldn't doubt they actively search for stuff to complain about and subsequently sue someone or a group. Essentially, they are justifying their existence, by just finding whatever they can sue for to line their pockets with Nintendo corporate money. Insane! I give it to sega for their stance on stuff like fan-made remasters, remakes, and one shots out there. Nintendo is such a disappointment and no longer the company they were in the 80s through 2010 or so.

 

[N1c2k3]

All that effort for a $17.500 fine?
There are definitely better ways for Nintendo to get their money's worth... Like, I dunno, putting it into the quality of your latest Pokémon title?

They're obviously not in it for the money. The simply want to send a message.

 

[ChronosNotashi]

I give it to sega for their stance on stuff like fan-made remasters, remakes, and one shots out there.

Clearly, someone doesn't know about one of Sega's recent actions (i.e. DMCA'ing a Golden Axe fan remake).

They only tend to 100% leave fan stuff alone if it's related to Sonic (read: "SegaSammy's 'hero of children the world over' who kept everyone's eyes away from Sammy's pachinko business). Fan works of any game that doesn't include Sonic or wasn't developed by Sonic Team, on the other hand, are fair game for legal action if they make too much noise or get in the way. (The fact that Phantasy Star Online was developed by Sonic Team and includes aspects of the Sonic IP is probably why all of the private servers for it have been more or less left alone.)

 

[roxas7237]

They waste so much money on these lawyers. I wouldn't doubt they actively search for stuff to complain about and subsequently sue someone or a group. Essentially, they are justifying their existence, by just finding whatever they can sue for to line their pockets with Nintendo corporate money. Insane! I give it to sega for their stance on stuff like fan-made remasters, remakes, and one shots out there. Nintendo is such a disappointment and no longer the company they were in the 80s through 2010 or so.

The reason they do it is if they win, it sets precedent. So it makes every following case easier. Nintendo has infinite money.