Nintendo sues hackers, modders and other people who it believes encourage the piracy of its games not just to stop them but to fire a warning shot toward anyone else considering such things.
In its pursuit of Switch hacker Gary Bowser, back in 2022, for example, an attorney for the Mario maker said the company had a “unique opportunity” to send a message to all gamers about video game piracy. It secured a $14.5 million judgment that Bowser will likely be paying back for the rest of his life.
In court last week, a different lawyer called for a much smaller, but nevertheless provocative reward against a defiant gamer: $10,000 for a stream of the 2024 Switch remaster of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door before it was released.
Again, Nintendo’s lawyers are trying to get the world’s attention about actions it considers to be crossing the line.