The FBI has seized seven websites, including nsw2u.com and nswdl.com, for helping users pirate video games, such as Nintendo Switch titles.
On Thursday, the FBI announced the crack down as users began noticing the affected sites had been replaced with the federal seizure banner. The agency described the sites as being “online criminal marketplaces” that supplied the bootleg video games.
The seized sites also include game-2u.com, bigngame.com, ps4pkg.com, ps4pkg.net, which also offered downloads for Nintendo, PC and PS4 games. In addition, the FBI took over another site, mgnetu.com, which could help users share torrents to video game downloads.
“For more than four years, the websites contained pirated copies of highly anticipated video games days or weeks before their official release date,” the FBI said.
(Wayback Machine/Internet Archive)“Between February 28, 2025, and May 28, 2025, records indicate a total of 3.2 million downloads occurred on these sites from the most used download service,” the agency added. “These actions resulting in an estimated loss of $170 million.”
So far, the FBI hasn’t commented on the crackdown, which is causing some gamers to complain. But the FBI’s website seizure banner mentions the involvement of the Netherland’s Fiscal Information and Investigation Service, which investigates financial and tax crimes. So it’s possible the operator of the seized sites is based in Europe.
Whether Nintendo sparked the investigation remains unclear. However, the company has long been hostile to any piracy, including of old Nintendo games. In the US, the company has even been bricking Switch 2 consoles that’ve been detected running a third-party flash cartridge that can emulate Switch 1 games.
