It’s no secret that Nintendo protects its franchises to the fullest extent and has a long-standing fight against Switch piracy. Recently, the company sued a Twitch and YouTube streamer, accusing him of harming their business, promoting game piracy, and causing multimillion-dollar damages over several years.
The defendant is Jesse Keighin, a content creator also known as Every Game Guru. Nintendo has targeted him for pirating various Switch games and streaming them live days or even weeks before their official release. The company also accuses him of providing access to these games for his viewers.
Because of this, Nintendo demands a hefty compensation for the damages. The lawsuit comes just days after Nintendo updated its content guidelines to clarify that it will now penalize any content that includes pirated or unreleased material.
Streamer to Pay Millions to Nintendo for Playing Pirated Switch Titles
According to the details, Keighin streamed various Switch games days before their official release. Nintendo argues that these titles were obtained illegally and were played on a PC through emulation or on a modified console.
The lawsuit reveals that the streamer played games like Mario & Luigi Brothership, Super Mario Party Jamboree, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Super Mario RPG, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Pikmin 4, Splatoon 3, and Mario Strikes: Battle League. In some cases, he played certain titles up to 16 days before their release. It’s estimated that he conducted at least 50 such streams over the past two years.
Nintendo sent him multiple warnings to stop; however, he ignored them, stating that he could “do this all day” as he had multiple accounts. The company managed to take down several of his streams and shut down various of his accounts on platforms like YouTube, Twitch, and Kick, but it hasn’t been able to erase his presence entirely.
"Prerelease piracy harms law-abiding Nintendo customers who may have been waiting for a particular game release for months or years."
The company decided to sue him, as it believes he has caused millions in losses and has encouraged Switch game piracy through his streams. As mentioned, Nintendo also accuses him of distributing leaked games to his followers.
"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 stated.
What Penalties Await the Streamer Sued by Nintendo?
Through the lawsuit, Nintendo seeks to have Keighin stop streaming, shut down his channels, and delete all his videos. In short, Nintendo wants him removed from the internet. Additionally, it wants the content creator to hand over all pirated devices, emulators, and hard drives containing the games.
On top of that, they demand payment of $150,000 USD for each violation of copyright law and $2,500 USD for other infringements related to the same law. In total, Keighin would need to pay approximately $7.5 million USD.
“We can confirm that we filed a lawsuit against an individual who has engaged and continues to engage in clear infringement of Nintendo’s IP rights, as well as violations of our Game Content Guidelines. Nintendo is passionate about protecting the creative works of game developers and publishers who expend significant time and effort to create experiences that bring smiles to all,” Nintendo concluded.
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