In the vast majority of countries, copyright infringement and theft are two separate statutes. Therefore it is hyperbole to state that copyright infringement ("piracy") is theft/stealing. It is copyright infringement. Nothing more and nothing less. No need to be hyperbolic about it. Still illegal, but not theft. Just because you are morally opposed to something doesn't magically turn one crime into another. Criminal codes are clearly delineated when it comes to theft and copyright infringement. If you have a moral opposition to infringement that's fine. But you are entering the realm of opinion rather than fact when you say that it is stealing.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1985 that infringement does not equate with theft. See Dowling v. United States (1985), 473 U.S. 207, 217–218).
Also at least in the US there is no such thing as a "Criminal lawsuit."
Lawsuits are within the civil domain. You do not go to jail or prison losing a lawsuit* unless your country has debtor prisons and you refuse to pay if you get a judgement against you awarding damages to the other party. If you lose a lawsuit and refuse to pay then you go into debt and depending on the state your wages can be garnished, a lien can be placed against one or more assets, and/or the winning party can be entitled to withholding from your checking account(s). * = Two notable exceptions are lawsuits where the plaintiff is the Internal Revenue Service and cases involving child support ("deadbeat fathers.")
If you wish to prove me wrong, look through case law on LexisNexis or WestLaw and cite specific cases where a defendant was convicted of theft and/or larceny for copyright infringement and the appellate court(s) upheld the judgement. If you can find even one case then judicial precedence could perhaps establish that copyright infringement is theft. I'll also accept citations of non-U.S. cases if the source is credible for case law. And before you cite Dowling v. US, know that
Alternatively, you could look through statutes for a developed first world country such as those in Western Europe, Canada, United States, etc where either a theft or larceny statute would apply to copyright infringement.
An example of theft would be removing a physical copy of Pokémon Sun and/or Moon from GameStop without paying for it and without authorization. That would be the act of stealing.
If it were possible to convict someone of theft and/or larceny for copyright infringement then prosecutors would most certainly do so. Prosecutors in the U.S. have a habit of overcharging people so they can pressure the defendant into a proffer (plea bargain).
Again, copyright infringement is still illegal and indeed can be considered a felony in some cases (such as being the original source to leak a prerelease games), but it is not "stealing." It is copyright infringement. No need to say an apple is also an orange in addition to being an apple.
But ultimately, yes, Nintendo can deny anyone access to their servers for any reason or even no reason. At least in the U.S. that is within their rights.
