The Feds Shut Down a Site Pirating Nintendo Games

If you go to that site today, all you’ll see is a big seizure notice from the Feds. “This domain has been seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” the notice reads, “in accordance with a seizure warrant issued pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 2323 issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (hey! Georgia! alright!) as part of a law enforcement operation and action by” the FBI and the Dutch agency the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD). Yes, I just copied that text directly from the image at the top of this screen. Convenient.

No publisher likes pirates, but Nintendo has been particularly hell-bent on stomping them out like Goombas of late. They notoriously have gone so far as bricking Switch 2 consoles that try to use Flash cards for piracy, and prosecuted one hacker who got a 40 month prison sentence and a hefty fine of $14.5 million—an extreme punishment clearly intended to serve as a warning to other potential pirates. It’s understandable they’d want to put an end to piracy, but some find Nintendo’s tactics to be egregious. 

It’s unknown what further actions, if any, have been taken against the people behind NSW2U. If the company’s recent history is any indication, Nintendo won’t be going light on them.