Nintendo wins $2 million judgment against Modded Hardware operator
Earlier this summer a U.S. federal court ruled in favor of Nintendo in a lawsuit against Ryan Daly, operator of the Modded Hardware website. The court ordered Daly to pay $2 million in damages, shut down the website, forfeit the site domain to Nintendo and be subject to a permanent injunction barring any future involvement with devices that circumvent Nintendo’s protections (including creating, selling, contributing to, hosting or investing in related businesses).
Key points
- Judgment: $2,000,000 awarded to Nintendo.
- Permanent injunction: shutdown of Modded Hardware, domain forfeiture, ban on creating/selling/modifying devices that bypass Switch protections.
- Devices involved: MiG Switch flashcarts and similar flashcarts/modchips commonly used to run pirated Switch games.
- Legal basis: violations of the DMCA and federal copyright law.
- Nintendo’s wider strategy: continued aggressive legal action against modders/emulator teams (e.g., prior Yuzu settlement) and technical measures such as bricking consoles found to run pirated games.
Context
While some users claim flashcarts can serve as backups for legitimately owned cartridges, these devices are more often used to play pirated copies of official Switch titles. The court found Daly’s activities facilitated large-scale piracy and caused irreparable harm to Nintendo.
Availability on mainstream platforms
Research indicates MiG flashcarts and similar modded Switch flashcarts are not openly sold on mainstream retailers like Amazon due to platform policies and legal risk.
Sources
- Twisted Voxel: Nintendo wins $2 million settlement against seller of Switch modchips and flashcarts
- Tech4Gamers: Nintendo wins $2M lawsuit vs Modded Hardware operator
- MXDWN: Nintendo reaches $2M settlement with MiG Switch creator
- GameRant: Nintendo obtains $2M settlement over Switch modding
- Notebookcheck: Nintendo lawsuit ends in $2M settlement
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