The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has seized one of the biggest Nintendo Switch game piracy websites, Nsw2u, which is best known for offering free downloads of illegal ROMs to the public.
The move by the FBI is seen as part of their "law enforcement operation" and is in collaboration with an international organization as part of an ongoing investigation.
FBI Seizes Nintendo Switch Game Piracy Site
Kotaku has reported that the FBI has seized the website of the infamous Nsw2u, and visiting their website now would only display the law enforcement agency's message saying that it has been seized.
The message displayed by the FBI shared that the warrant was issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia "pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §§ 2323."
With this takedown, the FBI took the website's domain from those who ran it, and they effectively blocked access to the platform which initially hosted pirated Switch games to download. According to the report, users in the r/SwitchPiracy group claimed that the website was still accessible earlier today, with several users being able to download games in the past few hours.
Alongside the FBI and the United States, they also cited that the Netherlands' Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) was also involved in the take down of the Nsw2u website.
Nintendo vs. Pirate Websites
According to Engadget, Nintendo is best known for going against websites or platforms like Nsw2u, and the company has been cracking down on illegal platforms that offer emulators and pirated Switch games.
Nintendo recently fought against the Yuzu emulator, which allowed players to run Switch games on PC platforms as well as PC gaming handhelds. The company took the fight against Yuzu to court, and it ended up with a settlement of $2.4 million in damages paid to the Kyoto-based gaming giant.
Additionally, Engadget revealed that Nintendo previously sued a smaller ROM-sharing website, RomUniverse, for a service that allowed gamers to freely download as many Switch titles as they wanted for a year.
The latest release of the Switch 2 also saw significant safeguards set up by Nintendo against piracy. This also includes a new Nintendo Switch User Agreement that will allow the company to brick the console should it detect illegal games or emulators.
Originally published on Player One
