Nintendo filed a lawsuit against streamer Jesse Keighin, known as EveryGameGuru, in the state of Colorado, United States, for alleged piracy and illegal transmission of the company's games. The accusation includes the dissemination and transmission of unreleased games, using Switch emulators, such as Yuzu and Ryujinx, in addition to the distribution of ROMs.
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According to the lawsuit, Keighin had streamed unreleased Nintendo titles at least 50 times in the last two years. The company is asking for compensation of US$150,000 (around R$865,000) for each illegal transmission. In addition, they also requested an additional fine of US$2,500 (around R$14,000) per pirated game and advertising links. Nintendo claims the streamer has repeatedly violated its copyrights by distributing tools for piracy and emulation.
Nintendo combats piracy on Switch with legal action
The lawsuit emphasizes that Keighin would be a “repeat pirate” for having broadcast unreleased games and protecting his channels with new profiles whenever the platform blocked his accounts. According to the accusation, he publicly shared links to emulators and security keys, essential for operating pirated software, facilitating his followers' access to these resources.
In addition to broadcasting the games, Keighin would also have received donations from his audience through third-party applications, after Nintendo managed to demonetize his main channel. The company also highlighted that, even after the initial sanctions, the streamer continued to publicly challenge its actions.
According to the lawsuit, after being banned from popular streaming platforms, Keighin returned with new channels and sent provocative messages to Nintendo. In one of the communications, the streamer stated that he had “a thousand channels left” and declared that he “could do this all day”.
For Nintendo, this attitude demonstrates the streamer's intention to systematically circumvent the company's measures to protect its content. In this way, the action represents yet another attempt by Nintendo to reinforce its policy against piracy and protect its releases from leaks and illegal transmissions.
Emulators and the dispute between Nintendo and piracy
Nintendo and communities that defend the right to use digital copies of games often conflict over emulators. This software simulates the operation of consoles, enabling games to run on computers.
Some defend emulators as a way to preserve games, but use with unauthorized copies violates copyright laws. The company has already sued and won emulator developers and websites that distribute ROMs, but game piracy remains a constant challenge, according to the history of cases involving the topic.
