Streamer who mocked Nintendo ordered to pay $17,500 in piracy lawsuit

Streamer who pirated Nintendo Switch games and mocked the company online has been ordered to pay $17,500

A content creator who streamed pirated Nintendo Switch games and publicly mocked the company has been ordered to pay $17,500 after losing a lawsuit filed by the gaming giant.

Jesse Keighin, known for uploading early gameplay footage of titles including Mario & Luigi: Brothership, was accused of distributing and streaming unauthorised copies of Nintendo games ahead of their release.

When the company issued copyright strikes, Keighin reportedly responded by sharing links to piracy tools and writing on social media, “LOVE YA’LL! CAPITALISM IS CANCER! MY CHANNEL IS BEING DELETED FOR SHARING GAMEPLAY VIDEOS! THIS IS YOUR REWARD!”

U.S. District Judge Gordon P. Gallagher ruled in favour of Nintendo earlier this week, issuing an injunction that prevents Keighin from “infringing Nintendo’s copyrighted works, including by streaming, and from trafficking in Switch emulators, Nintendo’s proprietary cryptographic keys, or other software or technologies that circumvent Nintendo’s technological protective measures.”

Nintendo had also requested permission to confiscate and destroy any tools Keighin allegedly used to pirate games, but the court declined that part of the motion, calling it “unclear” and “unreasonable” due to a lack of evidence about how Keighin accessed unreleased software.

Court filings also revealed Keighin’s repeated defiance during the case. In one instance, Nintendo claimed he threatened a company lawyer after being contacted about the lawsuit, later posting online, “You might run a corporation. I run the streets.”

Nintendo has intensified its efforts against piracy in recent years, targeting streamers, modders, and emulator developers such as the creators of Yuzu. The company’s legal actions have coincided with the rollout of its upcoming Switch 2 console, which remains, for now, free from known piracy exploits.