Nintendo sues streamer who said he could broadcast its pirated games "all day"

Nintendo has filed a new lawsuit against a streamer who broadcast 10 pirated games ahead of their release, including The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and Mario & Luigi: Brothership.

In papers filed on Wednesday and reported by Polygon, Nintendo has taken legal action against streamer Jesse Keighin - streaming as Every Game Guru - who allegedly played 10 unreleased Nintendo games over the last decade.

Nintendo further alleges that as well as broadcasting unreleased games, he also instructed others on how to obtain pirated games via "circumvention devices" Nintendo calls "trafficking".

When Nintendo moved to shutdown Keighin's streams via copyright notices on YouTube, Twitch, and other streaming platforms, he reportedly told them he "could do this all day" and had "a thousand burner accounts".

The Japanese megacorp says Keighin's conduct has cost it "millions of dollars" in "lost video game sales". It's seeking £11,600 ($15,000) for each alleged violation of its Copyright Act, £1900 ($2.5K) for each contravention of its anti-circumvention and anti-trafficking provisions in the Copyright Act, and further "actual damages" for the revenue it says it has lost, the amount of which Nintendo says it will "prove at trial".

"Streaming leaked games prior to their publication normalises and encourages prerelease piracy - Defendant is signalling to viewers that they too should acquire a pirated copy and play the game now, without waiting for its release and without paying for it," Nintendo's lawyers wrote in the filing.

"Prerelease piracy harms law-abiding Nintendo customers who may have been waiting for a particular game release for months or years, and then may see gameplay and spoilers online that ruin their own surprise and delight when experiencing the game."

"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 told Polygon in a subsequent statement.

"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."

Keighin did not respond to a request for comment.

Nintendo is also suing Palworld developer Pocketpair. The monster battling and catching game had frequently been compared with Pokémon since its launch for PC and Xbox Series X/S in January, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company's lawsuit was filed just weeks before Palworld's PlayStation 5 version launched at the end of September.

Yesterday, Pocketpair revealed that the lawsuit relates to three patents filed between February and July this year - after Palworld's launch. However, they relate to a pre-existing "parent" patent filed by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company in December 2021, preceding Palworld's launch, meaning they could indeed still apply to Palworld now.