Nintendo has won a lawsuit against a streamer who pirated games and live-streamed them before their release date.
Pirate Jesse “EveryGameGuru” Keighin infamously wrote to Nintendo “bragging” that he had “a thousand channels” to stream from, and threatened to continue using them, saying he could “do it all day.” “You can run the corporation, but I run the streets,” he wrote on social media at the time. He has now been ordered to pay $17,500 in restitution.
We found out about it last November Nintendo sued a gamer for streaming pirated Nintendo games such as The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom before the official release date. Nintendo filed a lawsuit in a Colorado court against Keighin, accusing him of not only streaming 10 Nintendo games before their release, but also telling viewers how to get them. The list includes The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Super Mario Party Jamboree and Mario & Luigi: Brothership.
The lawsuit alleges that since 2022, Keighin has sourced and streamed leaked Nintendo games at least 50 times and provided viewers with links to Yuzu and Ryujinx emulators. Nintendo alleged that these actions constituted “trafficking” in illegal “circumvention devices” and insisted they caused “millions of dollars” worth of damages in “lost video game sales.”
According to TorrentFreakHowever, the court refused to grant an injunction against unnamed “third parties” or to order the “destruction” of the devices Keighin uses to bypass Nintendo’s piracy systems, saying the request was “vague” and “unreasonable” without knowing who these third parties are or what the specific bypass devices are.
However, an injunction was issued against Keighin, preventing him from “infringing Nintendo’s copyrighted works, including through streaming, and trading in Switch emulators, proprietary Nintendo cryptographic keys, or other software or technology that circumvents Nintendo’s technological protective measures.”
According to reports, Keighin did not prepare any defense or any objections, and the verdict is now final.
Earlier this month, IGN reported Nintendo is suing a Reddit moderator and alleged Switch pirate for $4.5 millionclaiming that this amount “is not even close to an amount that would compensate Nintendo of America for the seriousness of defendant’s conduct.”
The conduct Nintendo is referring to is alleged “DMCA anti-trafficking violations” by James “Archbox” Williams, a moderator of the Switch Pirates subreddit who is accused of copying and distributing pirated Nintendo Switch games. Last year, Nintendo tracked down an alleged Switch pirate using Reddit posts and repair requests.
Vikki Blake is an IGN reporter, critic, columnist and consultant with over 15 years of experience working with some of the world’s largest gaming sites and publications. She is also a Guardian, a Spartan, a Silent Hillian, a Legend, and an eternally High Chaos. Find her on Blue Sky.
