Nintendo has won a lawsuit against a streamer who copied games and livestreamed them ahead of their release dates.
Pirate Jesse “EveryGameGuru” Cagin infamously wrote to Nintendo “bragging” that he had “a thousand disposable channels” to stream and threatened to keep using them, saying he could “do this all day.” “You may run the corporation, but I run the streets,” he wrote on social media at the time. He is now ordered to pay $17,500 in damages.
Last November we learned Nintendo sues gamer for streaming pirated Nintendo games such as The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom before their official release date. Nintendo filed a lawsuit in Colorado against Cagin, accusing him of not only streaming 10 Nintendo games before they were released, but also telling his viewers how to get them. The list includes The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Super Mario Party Jamboree and Mario & Luigi: Brothership.
According to the lawsuit, Keigin received and streamed leaked Nintendo games at least 50 times since 2022, and also provided viewers with links to Yuzu and Ryujinx emulators. Nintendo said the actions constituted “trading” in illegal “circumvention devices” and insisted they caused “millions of dollars” in damages through “lost video game sales.”
According to TorrentFreakHowever, the court did not agree to grant an injunction against anonymous “third parties” or order the “destruction” of the devices Keigin uses to circumvent Nintendo's pirated systems, saying the claim was “vague” and “unreasonable,” without knowing who those third parties were or what exactly the circumvention devices were.
However, an injunction was issued against Keihin, prohibiting him from “infringing Nintendo's copyrighted works, including through streaming, or trading in Switch emulators, Nintendo's proprietary cryptographic keys, or other software or technology that circumvents Nintendo's technological protections.”
Keigin reportedly did not prepare a defense or any objections, and the decision is now final.
Earlier this month, IGN reported Nintendo sues Reddit moderator and alleged Switch pirate for $4.5 millionarguing that this figure “falls far short of an amount that could compensate Nintendo of America for the severity of Defendant's conduct.”
The conduct Nintendo is citing is alleged “DMCA anti-trafficking violations” by James “Archbox” Williams, a moderator of the Switch Pirates subreddit accused of copying and distributing pirated Nintendo Switch games. Last year, Nintendo tracked down an alleged Switch pirate using a combination of Reddit posts and repair orders..
Vikki Blake is an IGN reporter, critic, columnist and consultant with over 15 years of experience working with the world's largest gaming sites and publications. She is also a Guardian, a Spartan, a Silent Hillian, a Legend, and the eternal Supreme Chaos. Find her in BlueSky.
