Nintendo Wins $17,500 Lawsuit Against Streamer Who Boasted “I Run the Streets”

Nintendo just made an example out of Jesse Keighin, a streamer who brazenly broadcast pirated Switch games and openly taunted the company’s lawyers on social media. After a year of legal wrangling, a Colorado federal court ordered Keighin to pay $17,500 in damages for his most recent infringement, with the judge calling out his repeated dodging of the case and refusal to answer for his actions.

Here’s how it all went down: Keighin, known online as Every Game Guru, began streaming pirated Nintendo games in 2022. And he didn’t keep quiet about it. By his own admission, he streamed at least 10 unreleased Nintendo games more than 50 times. Nintendo’s lawsuit singles out big-name titles, with the last straw being his pre-release stream of Mario & Luigi: Brothership.

Taunting Nintendo, Skirting the Law, Then Facing Consequences

Keighin didn’t just try to stay under the radar. He sent direct taunts to Nintendo’s legal team, bragging in a letter, “I have a thousand burner channels to stream from and can do this all day.” He made it clear he thought he was untouchable, writing on Facebook, “Should have done more research on me. You might run a corporation, I run the streets.”

Nintendo responded by suing him in 2024. But Keighin tried to dodge responsibility, ignoring the complaint for months. Nintendo had to serve the lawsuit via both email and through letters sent to his family members just to get his attention. When Keighin missed the deadline to respond, the court entered a default against him, making it a one-sided case.

Nintendo initially asked the court for $17,500 in damages, focused on his Mario & Luigi: Brothership stream and additional penalties for repeatedly bypassing the Switch’s security. The judge agreed, but rejected two extra requests from Nintendo: one to force Keighin to destroy “all circumvention devices” (since he was mostly using widely available emulation software) and another to permanently ban unidentified “third parties” who might have helped him.

Why the Damages Weren’t Higher, and What Nintendo Could Have Done

The most surprising twist? Nintendo could have demanded at least $100,000 in damages for all ten of the pirated games Keighin streamed (the court motion notes $10,000 per title). But after Keighin failed to even show up, Nintendo chose to only pursue damages for the most recent violation: $10,000 for streaming Mario & Luigi: Brothership and $7,500 for fifteen separate instances of defeating Nintendo’s digital security ($500 each).

The company pointed out in its legal filing that Keighin “knew about, but repeatedly ignored copyright notices and encouraged and assisted others’ infringement”, arguing that a high penalty was more than fair. But, as the judgment makes clear, Nintendo left plenty of money on the table by not claiming damages for the earlier games.

The final court order? Keighin must pay Nintendo $17,500. No permanent bans on his future streaming tools, no legal action against unnamed partners. The story is a clear warning shot: Nintendo can, and will, go after streamers who don’t just pirate its work but seem to make a sport out of taunting the company along the way.

Separately, Nintendo is also seeking a much larger sum, $4.5 million, from a Reddit moderator it accuses of pirating Switch games. The company is making it clear that no one is too small to sue, streamer or not.

The Takeaway for Streamers, and Nintendo’s Message to Pirates

If you think big companies aren’t watching, think again. Nintendo’s win shows they’re willing to pursue individual streamers, especially repeat offenders who provoke them online. Taunts like “I run the streets” might sound bold in front of your followers, but they don’t mean much against a court order.