Nintendo is well known for coming down hard on piracy and the other perceived infractions against its intellectual property, wielding the iron fist of litigation against those deemed guilty of hacking their consoles. The most recent (and most aptly-named) example of this has to be that of Gary Bowser, a member of the hacking group Team Xecuter, which developed and sold devices and software designed to hack various consoles.
Bowser, a Canadian national who was living in the Dominican Republic, was arrested after a federal investigation into the group was launched back in 2020. Since then, he’s pled guilty to the charges of marketing and selling “circumvention devices” and wrangled with a concurrent civil lawsuit leveled against him by Nintendo. Today, he was finally sentenced to 40 months in prison for two federal felonies. This is on top of the $4.5 million he is required to pay in restitution to Nintendo of America, as well as the reported $10 million payout from the civil lawsuit.
Neither of the two other Team Xecuter members named in the indictment, French national Max Louarn and Chinese national Yuanning Chen, are currently in federal custody, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office. No doubt the Attorney’s office and Nintendo are keen to find them to consolidate their joint action against tech piracy.
