An Arizona man has agreed to pay Nintendo $12 million for pirating the company's games through two ROM sites, according to court documents.
Jacob Mathias and his wife will pay the huge sum for offering thousands of free downloadable Nintendo games through LoveROMs.com and LoveRetro.co, according to the settlement, which was first spotted by TorrentFreak.
In July, Nintendo sued Mathias, claiming he operated both sites and made a profit from the piracy. According to Nintendo, LoveROMs itself had about 17 million monthly visitors, and was earning revenue through online ads and donations.
But following the lawsuit, both sites effectively went down. They now contain a notice with an apology to Nintendo. "LoveROMS.com/LoveRetro.co acknowledges that it caused harm to Nintendo, its partners, and customers," the notice reads before recommending visitors go to Nintendo.com to buy official game copies from the company.
So far, Nintendo hasn't commented on the case. But the settlement will serve as a warning to other game pirates. In August, another ROM provider EmuParadise also pulled the plug on offering Nintendo games, fearing legal action from the Japanese video game maker.
How will Mathias pay the $12 million? PCMag reached out to him, but he declined to comment. According to court documents, both Mathias and his wife acknowledge that they infringed Nintendo's trademarks and copyrighted games, and have agreed to never do so again.
At the time Nintendo sued Mathias, the company was asking he pay $150,000 for each pirated game, and another $2 million for the infringement of each Nintendo trademark.