2025-09-09 16:25, China Times News
【Chen Yu-lun】
Nintendo continues its aggressive crackdown on the piracy and modifying market, securing another significant victory. US federal court recently ruled that the website “Modded Hardware” which sold Switch modifying, violated Nintendo’s rights. The manager, Ryan Daly, must pay USD 2 million (approximately NTD 60.68 million) in damages, shut down the website, surrender the domain, and permanently cease operations.
In a ruling issued on September 5, 2025, the court found Ryan Daly guilty of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and federal copyright law. The ruling not only ordered Ryan Daly to pay damages and cease and desist, but also prohibited him from engaging in any business related to devices designed to circumvent Nintendo’s security measures, including operating, investing in, or assisting other similar websites and companies.
The lawsuit centers on the website’s sale of “MIG Switch” and “MIG Dumper” devices, which allow players to bypass Nintendo’s protections and play official games without a physical cartridge. Although some users claim the devices serve as backup devices, they are often used to download pirated games.
In fact, this is not the first time Nintendo has taken legal action. In March of last year, Nintendo sued the development team of the well-known Switch emulator Yuzu, ultimately settling for USD 2.4 million and requiring the development team to permanently remove the website and cease related activities.
Nintendo has continued to strengthen its anti-piracy policies in recent years. In addition to legal channels, it even retains the ability to “lock the device” which can directly turn a Switch console with pirated games installed into a “brick”. The outside world interprets this victory as once again sending a strong signal, showing that Nintendo has zero tolerance for any form of cracking and piracy.
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