Nintendo Wins $2 Million Lawsuit Against Nintendo Switch Modder

A US federal court ruled in favor of Nintendo last week in a lawsuit against Ryan Daly, the operator and owner of the Modded Hardware website. The site was known for selling devices that bypass Nintendo’s piracy protection, and Daly has been ordered to pay a $2 million fine.

According to Engadget, the judge’s decision represents a significant win for Nintendo during its long-running battle against piracy. Besides the fine, Daly must shut down the website, forfeit the domain to Nintendo and avoid any future involvement in similar practices.

Through Modded Hardware, Daly offered customers devices that allowed players to download and play copies of the official games for Nintendo Switch without paying.

According to the final injunction, the court noted that Nintendo includes technological protection measures (TPMs) in its consoles to control access to copyrighted games and its operating system.

“(Daly) has engaged in the marketing, distribution, and sale of devices that are primarily designed for the purpose of circumventing the TPMs, have limited commercially significant purpose or use other than to circumvent the TPMs, and are marketed with Defendant’s knowledge for use in circumventing the TPMs,” states the document.

Nintendo argued that Daly caused “significant and irreparable harm,” and the court agreed. Modded Hardware sold devices such as the MIG Switch, which enabled unauthorized play of Nintendo Switch games, and the MIG Dumper, a tool used to copy data from game cartridges and transfer it to external devices—allowing customers to “create, distribute, and play pirated Nintendo games on a massive scale.”

This case follows another major legal victory for Nintendo. In 2024, the company filed a lawsuit against the developers of Yuzu, an open-source Nintendo Switch emulator for PC. That case ended in Nintendo’s favor, with the site taken down and the creators ordered to pay $2.4 million.

Earlier this year, in May, Nintendo issued a warning, letting users know that any modification or hack to the Nintendo Switch console could result in the device being permanently disabled.