The FBI’s Atlanta Field Office seized several online criminal marketplaces providing pirated versions of popular video games. In addition to the seizure, the FBI dismantled the infrastructure of these websites.
The law enforcement operation was authorized by a seizure warrant issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The seized sites were nsw2u.com, nswdl.com, game-2u.com, bigngame.com, ps4pkg.com, ps4pkg.net, and mgnetu.com.
While the FBI announced that visitors to these sites would instead view a seizure banner that notifies them the domain has been seized by federal authorities, in some cases, that banner was no longer visible within days of the seizures. For example, ps4pkg.net displayed an empty page with a browser’s ‘domain not found’ notice.
For more than four years, the websites contained pirated copies of highly anticipated video games days or weeks before their official release date. For example, according to reporting by Games Industry, the NSW2U site hosted illegal ROMs, called the MIG Switch; for players using emulators and hacked Nintendo Switch devices.
Between February 28, 2025, and May 28, 2025, records quoted by the FBI indicated a total of 3.2 million downloads occurred on these sites from the most used download service. These actions resulting in an estimated loss of $170 million.
The FBI collaborated with the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) in the investigation. Although no news was released by FIOD, its involvement implies that the piracy operations had an impact on Dutch rights-holders
Games Industry also reports that Nintendo itself has been running an ongoing anti-piracy operation, and had previously banned Nintendo Switch 2 players from using other piracy services. IGN reported that users of Switch 2 players equipped with the MIG Switch have had their devices disabled remotely by Nintendo.
Nintendo also has revised its user agreement and privacy policy to make its rules against emulators and piracy more stringent.
Further reading
FBI Atlanta seizes maor video game piracy Websites. Press release. July 10, 2025. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Atlanta Field Office.
FBI seizes Nintendo Switch piracy site, NSW2U, as ‘part of a law enforcement operation.’ Article. July 14, 2025. by Vikki Blake. Games Industry (gamesindustry.biz)
Nintendo launches opening salvo in war against Switch 2 game pirates as MIG Switch users report online service bans. Article. June 17, 2025. by Tom Phillips. IGN
Why it matters
This is another example of a multi-national collabortion between law enforcement agencies, which is very common when fighting large-scale piracy operations in which content that either originates or has legitimate rights-holders across multiple countries is aggregated and distributed illegally.
