Nintendo wins against a pirate: streamer must pay $17,500 for showing illegal games before their release!

Nintendo once again demonstrates that the fight against piracy is for them not just a matter of law, but also brand reputation. The company won a lawsuit against streamer Jesse "Every Game Guru" Keighin, who for the past two years had been livestreaming Nintendo game leaks — even before their official releases.

50 broadcasts of leaks

According to a lawsuit filed in November 2024, Keighin had streamed illegally obtained titles over 50 times, including Mario & Luigi: Brothership and The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.

Nintendo reported violations on YouTube, Twitch, and Kick, but the streamer didn’t back down. He used modified consoles and emulators to showcase gameplay from leaks, and also shared links to Yuzu and Ryujinx emulators, encouraging viewers to engage in piracy.

“I have a thousand backup channels”

In court documents, Nintendo revealed that Keighin sent a letter to the company in which he openly bragged that he had “a thousand burner channels” from which he would continue to broadcast.

The court had no doubts – Keighin, who did not appear at the hearing, was ordered to pay 17,500 dollars in damages.

Judgement and Restrictions

Nintendo accused the streamer of “dealing in devices that bypass security” and “millions in losses due to lost sales.”

Although the court sided with the company and imposed a ban on further infringement of rights, it rejected the demand for destruction of the equipment, deeming it “vague and unjustified” — particularly since Nintendo could not specify what exactly the “devices” were and who else used them.

Another matter: Redditor "Archbox"

This isn't the first such move from the Japanese. A month earlier, Nintendo of America sued a Reddit user under the alias "Archbox" (James C. Williams), demanding as much as 4.5 million dollars for piracy, distributing Switch games, and promoting software to run them.

Comment: strong signal for the emulator scene

The Keighin case shows one thing — Nintendo is not going to turn a blind eye even to smaller streamers or individual users.

The company has long maintained that emulators, leaks, and "modded" consoles are a real threat to sales and game developers. Now this signal has been sent exceptionally loudly: playing leaks is not only a ban risk, but also a very costly ending.