Years before the FBI Emblem donned its landing page, NSW2u domains were an infamous source for pirated Nintendo Switch games. After years of takedown notices and watchlist nominations, international scrutiny finally caught up with the piracy site. The following is a timeline of law enforcement events leading up to the seizure of one of gaming’s most elusive piracy hubs.
9 April 2021 | Nintendo’s First DMCA Strike
Digital Millennium Copyright Act Complaint, Marketly on Behalf of Nintendo of America, Inc
Brand protection firm Marketly, submits the earliest accessible DMCA notice targeting NSW2u domains . The request was sent to Google and later archived in redacted form by the Lumen Database, which maintains records of copyright takedown notices processed by Google.
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
- Pokémon Sword
- Super Mario 3D All-Stars
- Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury
- Super Mario Maker 2
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
17 December 2021 | UK High Court Injunction Order
Nintendo Wins High Court Injunction Ordering Internet Service Providers to Block NSW2u domains
iii) Reports commissioned from SimilarWeb (a platform which provides website analytics services including website traffic data) show that NSW2U (and its mirror sites) is immensely popular in the UK…Between January and September 2021, all of the NSW2U sites had 2.8 million visits from the UK and the numbers of visitors appears on an upward trajectory.
iv) Blocking injunctions are not difficult for the ISPs to implement. They have agreed the terms of the Order and have the necessary technology already available to them.
Conclusion
For the reasons set out above, I grant the Order requested by Nintendo in the terms discussed at the hearing.
– Nintendo Co Ltd v British Telecommunications Plc & Ors [2021] EWHC 3488 (21 December 2021) via Opus IP
18 October 2022 | DMCA Notice Over Splatoon 3 Leak
Digital Millennium Copyright Act Complaint, Marketly
Marketly submits another DMCA complaint involving the piracy site in relation to the unauthorized distribution of Splatoon 3.
6 February 2024 | Notorious Markets Report ’23
USTR Lists NSW2u in 2023 Notorious Markets Report for the First Time
The United States Trade Representative originally includes NSW2u.com and related domains in it’s 2023 Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy list.
Source: USTR, 2023 Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy [Page 27]
16 October 2024 | IIPA Remarks
IIPA Affirms Notorious Markets Listing in Official Remarks
Private sector coalition International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), submits written comments in response to the USTR reinforcing the threat posed by NSW2u and its mirrors citing malware risk and other piracy related harms.
ESA addressed the problem of hyperlinking websites, which enable piracy of a high volume of copyrighted video game material. Examples of large-scale offenders include nsw2u.com and fitgirl-repacks.site, which pre-release illicit copyrighted content and garner millions of visits per month…ESA emphasized the danger of malware delivered through digital ads and illegal copies of copyrighted content. (Docket No. USTR-2024-0013-0001)
29 October 2024 | ESA Mass DMCA Complaint
Digital Millennium Copyright Act Complaint, The ESA
The Entertainment Software Association file a total of 96 copyright claims that identify ‘NSW2u’ domains in 13 separate infractions. The unauthorized distribution of Nintendo and Warner Brothers intellectual property previously mentioned were named along with:
8 January 2025 | Notorious Markets Review ’24
USTR Publishes 2024 Notorious Markets Review
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) once again includes NSW2u.com in their 2024 Notorious Markets report. The pirate site is marked as a repeat offender as well as on-going law enforcement priority by international IP watchdogs.
22 January 2025 | Marketly Files Major DMCA Sweep
Digital Millennium Copyright Act Complaint, Marketly
On behalf of Nintendo of America, Marketly files 15 DMCA complaints naming ‘NSW2u’ under 19 different .com, .net, and .org domains. Titles previously mentioned were included along with:
- Pokémon Legends: Arceus
- Pokémon Violet
- Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
- Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD
- Mario vs. Donkey Kong
28 February 2025 | FBI Surveillance
FBI Begins Tracking NSW2u Downloads
The Federal Bureau of Investigation logs over 3.2M downloads linked to the NSW2u domain(s). The US intelligence organization estimated over $170M worth of damages over a period of several weeks.
27 May 2025 | Counterfeit and Piracy Watchlist
The EU Commission Lists NSW2U in an Official Piracy Watch Report
The Council of the European Union published a Counterfeit and Piracy Watchlist identifying ‘NSW2u’ domains as referral platforms that facilitate piracy. The report highlights NSW2u.com holds a global SimilarWeb ranking of 17,721, industry ranking (video games consoles
and accessories) of 564 and received 2.3M visits globally in February 2025.
via Council of the European Union’s Counterfeit & Piracy Watch May 2025 Report [Page 20]
10 July 2025 | Shutdown
United States FBI and Dutch FIOD Seize Primary NSW2u-Related Domains
The FBI-Atlanta Field Office, in co-op with the Dutch FIOD, executes a domain seizure warrant issued pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §§ 2323. The domains occupied by the warrant include:
- nsw2u.com
- nswdl.com
- game-2u.com
- bigngame.com
- ps4pkg.com
- ps4pkg.net
- mgnetu.com
Users who now attempt to browse nsw2u.com will see the above landing page via FBI Atlanta
At the time of this writing, no individual has been publicly identified as a primary operative in the NSW2u case.
SOURCE:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, 2023 and 2024
The International Intellectual Property Alliance
Nintendo Co Ltd v British Telecommunications Plc & Ors [2021] EWHC 3488 via Opus IP
Lumen Database Notices – April 09 2021, October 18 2022, October 29 2024, January 22 2025
