NINTENDO is known for three things: innovative consoles, high–quality games, and numerous lawsuits.
Most famously Nintendo has filed a lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair for alleged patent infringement.
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However, it isn’t just other companies that Nintendo has targeted but the huge company has now filed a lawsuit against a small-time streamer.
According to a report by Polygon, Nintendo has filed a lawsuit against streamer Jesse Keighin for allegedly playing pirated games online.
Keighin had a very small audience with highs of around 14 viewers, to whom he apparently streamed himself playing 10 different pirated Nintendo games.
The list in the lawsuit contains recently released games like Mario & Luigi Brothership, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, and Super Mario Party Jamboree.
Nintendo also claims that Keighin told his viewers to pirate games, and instructed them on how to do so.
In response to takedown notices issued by Nintendo, Keighin said he had “a thousand burner accounts” and that he could “do this all day.”
He has not responded to requests for comment since Nintendo filed the lawsuit.
The company has historically struggled with people pirating its games, and pirated copies of Nintendo Switch games often circle online weeks before launch.
Nintendo’s games are never ported to other platforms, so pirated games are attractive to those who want to play on PC.
The company has been trying to fight this type of piracy for years, and in this case it’s claiming millions in damages.
Lawyers for Nintendo wrote: “Streaming leaked games prior to their publication normalizes and encourages prerelease piracy.
“Defendant is signaling to viewers that they too should acquire a pirated copy and play the game now, without waiting for its release and without paying for it.
“Prerelease piracy harms law-abiding Nintendo customers who may have been waiting for a particular game release for months or years, and then may see gameplay and spoilers online that ruin their own surprise and delight when experiencing the game.”
Nintendo also issued take-down notices for Keignin’s content on various social media platforms, and to our knowledge, these were removed at the time of writing.
Ninten-No-You-Don’t
Piracy has long been a problem in the gaming industry, and in the early days developers would put pass codes in manuals to protect their profits.
While the industry is suffering mass layoffs, it’s important to remember that people worked hard to create the games that you enjoy.
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Nintendo is more aggressive in its piracy measures compared to other companies, but it is within its rights to protect its games.
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