Source: Nintendo / Mario & Luigi: Brothership
This a perfect example of “f*** around and find out.” One man is learning the hard way that Nintendo does not play with its IP.
Meet Jesse Keighin. According to a lawsuit filed by Nintendo in a Colorado District Court earlier this week, he had a hobby of streaming Switch games before they came out and boasting about it, which is a huge NO, NO for those who know.
The lawsuit alleges that he said, “[I] can do this all day,” in a letter to Nintendo, and in response, the Mario-maker was slapped with a lawsuit that could cost him up to $7.5 million.
First reported by 404 Media, Keighin is accused of streaming leaked Nintendo Switch games, such as the recently released Mario & Luigi: Brothership, using emulation software. The website reports that he committed the act as many as 50 times in the last two years.
Nintendo is seeking $150,000 in damages for each instance of alleged copyright infringement.
Per Kotaku:
“All of these streams were unauthorized and all compromise Nintendo’s legitimate prerelease marketing,” reads the legal complaint filed on November 6. “They also promote and encourage downloading of pirated copies of unpublished games. Defendant’s streams often consist merely of him playing Nintendo’s leaked games without commentary for extended periods of time.”
Recently, Nintendo has been on a renewed mission to crack down on emulation, leaks, and piracy, from people playing The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom ahead of release on PC to fans sharing art book scans ahead of publication on Discord servers. This year alone, it killed two popular Switch emulators with legal threats that quickly shut them down.
When Trolling Nintendo Goes Wrong
According to Kotaku, Keighin could have avoided the lawsuit, but his constant trolling of the company pushed Nintendo’s hands. The lawsuit claims that the video game company had already shut down his monetized YouTube channel and other accounts, telling Nintendo that he would help others find “newer and updated copies” of Switch emulators to help them pirate games.
In a post, Keignhin wrote, “LOVE YA’LL! CAPITALISM IS CANCER! MY CHANNEL IS BEING DELETED FOR SHARING GAMEPLAY VIDEOS! THIS IS YOUR REWARD!”
A spokesperson for Nintendo confirmed the lawsuit in a statement to Kotaku, writing, “We can confirm that we filed a lawsuit against an individual who has engaged and continues to engage in clear infringement of Nintendo’s IP rights, as well as violations of our Game Content Guidelines. Nintendo is passionate about protecting the creative works of game developers and publishers who expend significant time and effort to create experiences that bring smiles to all.”
We won’t be surprised if this guy wishes he could hit the reset button.