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as always shitty journalism from polygon that conveniently leaves out details
he was allegedly running rom download sites that had some roms behind a paywall and casually advertised them on the switch pirates subreddit to try and make money
he received a cease and decist telling him to stop and completely ignored it
the 4.5m Nintendo is asking for is the default judgement, not a specific number
this guy is a dumbass, basically
Your first two points are mentioned in the article:
The filing claims that Williams sent thousands of messages on Reddit to other users directing them to piracy websites, at times offering technical support for issues fans might encounter while attempting to mod their Switch. Williams reportedly asked for "donations" of Nintendo eShop gift cards in exchange for his services. The Japanese company believes that Williams created, operated, supported, and promoted piracy websites that allowed users to download "extensive" libraries of Nintendo Switch games.
In the lawsuit, Nintendo also says that it attempted to work with Williams by sending a cease and desist letter in March 2024. In it, Nintendo urged Williams to "shut down his pirate shops." While Williams initially seemed receptive, Nintendo alleges that progress came to a halt as Williams denied involvement with any piracy shop and apparently became "combative." Eventually, Williams apparently deleted his online posts that could imply culpability.
there's a big difference between making a piracy website and profiting off selling pirated content, which the article doesn't mention. there's also a lot of nintendo claims and he denies which doesn't make it clear what was happening, but so many redditors knew and confirmed he was selling roms which makes his story clearly false and less likeable
Eh people selling roms can fuck off anyway.
Definitely, pirated content should be free or not exist at all.
No on hates their own fans more than Nintendo. Pirate everything they sell.
Ok but why were Redditors paying this dude? I mean there's LITERALLY the ROM Megathread via Reddit that has...literally everything listed, for free, to download. You don't even need to go to various rom sites or anything because it's all in that megathread for every system even system bios.
Hell even fitgirl does Switch roms.
Cause all the fucking moron kids that clogged up reddit during summer break are now fucking moron adults clogging up reddit year-round. It's part of why I left; I could see the average IQ of its users declining in realtime.
There will always be the clueless, helpless people who maybe discovered piracy and roms a week ago and don't realize how accessible it is, thinking it's locked behind some paywall like drugs from the local dealer.
Multiple interesting things in this case.
First that they could even identify the mod, second that he apparently asked for donations as thanks. Getting monetary benefits from something makes it much harder to argue that you just did it out of interest and not to illegally profit from it.
second that he apparently asked for donations as thanks.
he wasn't asking for donations, he was illegally selling roms, something polygon didn't mention
Ok, but one could also argue that Nintendo was never going to release what this content creator made, it attracted more business to the official IP, the artist was expressing themselves through painstaking love for the content, and only asked for tips to support further creative adventures.
Dropped my Switch for a Steam Deck and never looked back.
Fuck Nintendo and Games Workshop. Just say it’s not cannon and fucking move on you controlling pricks.
I think you are in the wrong thread. Mod in this article means the moderator of a subreddit, not a a modification of a game.
Fuck Nintendo and Games Workshop. Just say it’s not cannon and fucking move on you controlling pricks.
100 % agreed.
Yeeeeeah, the headline in isolation is a bit misleading and unfortunately this seems in line with some recent Nintendo moves where they go after people who slipped on something adjacent.
I have no idea how things work wherever this guy lives, but over here soliciting remuneration would be the difference between this being a problem or not.
That said, I still hope they lose this and I have so many serious questions about how Reddit wouldn't be liable if the content is illegal and they didn't do anything to moderate it. This is a weird one and it's worth keeping an eye on, although I would imagine Nintendo is hoping the lawsuit itself acts as a deterrent regardless.
That’s not very family friendly Nintendo
I guess it must be a hot take, because it gets downvoted a lot every time I say this, but...
I think it's better to boycott Nintendo outright, rather than pirate their games. Piracy is still promotion, it still benefits them, and anyone going out of their way to facilitate Nintendo piracy is clearly putting themselves at great risk. Even video content creators who are doing nothing illegal are at risk of legal battles they often can't afford.
Nothing that Nintendo comes out is so uniquely great that it's worth putting up with their awful business practices, fan abuse, and general enshittification. As far as video game platforms go, Steam provides orders of magnitude more value for the same cost, and they are doing genuinely good work advancing the quality and popularity of Linux.
Nah, I'm pirating their shit if it's worth playing. Less and less of it qualifies now anyway. Knowing how much they rabidly hate piracy of their stuff makes it all the more satisfying!
I doubt Nintendo fanatics know how to boycott at all.
I’ve seen threads even in lemmyverse of folks purchasing the Switch2, esp. after some recent releases.
I doubt they’ll ever even grow spines and burn Execs’ homes.
Y'all will still keep on feeding them money for the same 7 games rereleased 18 times over.
Shitendo being shitty again. I seriously hate that company. Ruining people's lives just so they get a few more dollars.
Yup, and when the official ICE Twitter page utilizes their intellectual property in a video showcasing them also ruining peoples lives, we get crickets from Nintendo.
I used to feel bad that they struggle for profit, with what they set out to do back in the day with their influence in the video game industry and all; now I wholeheartedly believe they should fucking sink.
Nintendo not having any legal standing doesn't help. Parody law is set and settled and unfortunately the ICE video counts as fair use. They did actually come out and say they had nothing to do with it and didn't give any permission.