Switch modder landed with a $2 million fee after settling lawsuit with Nintendo over selling modded consoles and piracy-enabling flash carts

A Switch modder has settled with Nintendo and agreed to pay the company $2 million after it filed a suit over the alleged sale of modded consoles.

While Nintendo has always been very protective over its games and consoles (even shutting down fan games like AM2R at times), it has cracked down heavily on Switch piracy over the last few years. In 2024, Nintendo filed a suit against the creators of the popular Switch emulator Yuzu, with the company agreeing to pay $2.4 million to Nintendo in a settlement. In the year since, the other big Switch emulator Ryujinx disappeared, and a prominent piracy website was seized by the FBI.

In a lawsuit filed in July 2024 (via TorrentFreak), Nintendo claimed that it had contacted Ryan Daly, who allegedly operated a store named Modded Hardware, threatening legal action unless he stopped selling Switch consoles and MIG flash cards (which can be used to play pirated games). According to Nintendo, after agreeing to cease sales, Daly continued to sell the devices, resulting in the lawsuit being filed.

Over a year later, (reported by VGC and IGN) Daly and Nintendo have settled the suit. As a part of the settlement, Daly will pay Nintendo $2 million alongside a permanent injunction being ordered against him, preventing him from ever handling, selling or promoting modded consoles or helping other people mod their consoles.

The Switch was cracked by pirates fairly early on compared to most consoles, with Nintendo seemingly taking extra measures with the Switch 2 consoles, where players report they have been bricked when using Mig Flash cards, even when using their own roms.

Gearbox's Randy Pitchford says everyone expects Nintendo to do something "really interesting," and sometimes you get "brilliant" things like the Wii and Switch 2, and other times you get the Wii U, which "didn't work as well."