Hacker is Out of Jail, but Will be Paying off Nintendo for the Rest of His Life
A hacker convicted of creating and selling pirated chips has been released from prison. However, this is not the end of the penalties imposed on the man.
In December 2021, Gary Bowser was sentenced to 40 months in prison for his activities in the hacking group Team-Xecuter. In 2013, the hackers marketed chips and modifications that allowed for pirated copies of games to run on Nintendo Switch and 3DS.
The Canadian hacker, in an interview with youtuber Nick Moses said that he was released from federal prison at the end of March and is currently in a detention center in Tacoma, Washington.
However, this is not the end of Bowser's problems. Indeed, according to the sentence, he must pay Nintendo $14.5 million in damages (including $10 million deemed mandatory).
An arm and a leg
In an interview, Bowser said that so far he has only managed to contribute $175 to the fine (thanks to the work he did in prison). Once released, he is required to pay a percentage of his gross monthly income to Nintendo.
"According to the agreement [with Nintendo - ed. note], the maximum amount they can collect from me is between 25 and 30% of my gross monthly income," Bowser said. "I have six months of time before the whole procedure takes effect.
In order to pay off the debt to Nintendo, Bowser must earn at least $40 million (without tax). Given that the hacker is now 53 years old, he may not be able to pay the entire debt. It is likely that he will be paying the fine for the rest of his life (unless he finds a large source of income).
Against hackers
In June 2022, Axios published the contents of the verdict in the case. Nintendo's lawyer, Ajay Singh, was said to have said that the the trial was a "unique opportunity" to send a message about piracy to the world. District Judge Robert Lasnik, seconding him, said that television and movies glorify hackers as people who "challenge the system," giving the false impression that no harm is done (the victims - usually large companies and sometimes entire countries - usually don't complain about lack of money).
The battle between the judiciary and Nintendo against Team-Xecuter had been going on for quite some time, with the key point being Gary Bowser's detention in the Dominican Republic, followed by his deportation to the US and eventual indictment. We reported on the case on our website. The group, to which Bowser had belonged since 2013, had been long involved in the production of chips and various modifications for all sorts of systems, such as consoles from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo.
