Nintendo Switch Piracy Subreddit Shut Down

Reddit has shut down the most prominent Nintendo Switch emulation and piracy subreddit after its member count balloned over the last six weeks.

As reported by PC Gamer, the 69,800 member subreddit was a leading forum to discuss the modding (and therefore pirating) of Nintendo Switch games.

Perhaps due to the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, easily the highest profile Switch game in a long time, the community grew from around 37,000 members on May 1 to the near 70,000 it had before its closure. PC Gamer also reported on the subreddit in early May, perhaps drawing more attention to it.

Seemingly caused by this near doubling in size, Reddit caught on to the page and shut it down. It took a while for it to do so, however, as the subreddit was active for more than three years at the time of its closure.

It’s unclear if Nintendo itself had anything to do with the subreddit’s closure, though the company is known for taking a no-nonsense approach to any company that uses its IP without permission.

Wii and GameCube emulator Dolphin was the latest to face its wrath after its attempt to launch on Steam was swiftly shut down. “Nintendo is committed to protecting the hard work and creativity of video game engineers and developers,” a spokesperson said at the time.”

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.