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

Nintendo once again proves that fighting piracy is not only a matter of law for them but also of brand reputation. The company won a lawsuit against streamer Jesse "Every Game Guru" Keighin, who for the past two years had been live-streaming leaks of Nintendo games — 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 did not back down. He used modified consoles and emulators to show gameplay from the leaks, as well as 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 the company a letter in which he openly bragged about having “a thousand burner channels” that he would continue to broadcast from.

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

Judgment and Restrictions

Nintendo accused the streamer of "trafficking in devices that bypass protections" and "millions in losses resulting from lost sales".

Although the court sided with the company and imposed a ban on further violations of rights, it rejected the request for the destruction of equipment, deeming it "vague and unjustified" — especially since Nintendo could not specify what the "devices" were and who else used them.

Another case: Redditor "Archbox"

This is not the first such move by the Japanese. A month earlier, Nintendo of America sued a Reddit user by the nickname "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 does not intend to turn a blind eye even to smaller streamers or individual users.

The company has maintained for years that emulators, leaks, and "modded" consoles pose a real threat to sales and game developers. Now this signal has been sent particularly loudly: playing leaks is not only a risk of getting banned, but also a very costly outcome.