Facing 3 years of jail time and a $15 million fine.
Gary Bowser, a 51-year-old Canadian hacker who is the public face behind the Nintendo ROM hacker group Team Xecuter, has been sentenced to three years in prison, dealing with a very hard and decisive blow in the fight against piracy. Team Xecuter, an operation that sold illegal devices, allowed people to play pirated video games on consoles like the Nintendo Switch, the Sony PlayStation Classic, and the Microsoft Xbox.
Prosecutors called Bowser a “prominent leader” of Team Xecuter because his products included online libraries of pirated video games. Unlike others in the emulation or modding community who create free, open-source software, Team Xecuter charged money for its services. Bowser’s role included running websites that, marketed products to customers while helping create and support online libraries of pirated games. The group, which had over a dozen members around the world, sold “circumvention devices” that circumvent console security measures, which allowed users to hack consoles like the Nintendo Switch, on which users could download games like Super Mario Odyssey and Super Smash Bros.
Bowser was deported from the Dominican Republic to the US after his arrest. He was indicted along with two others: Max Louarn, a 49-year-old of France; and Yuanning Chen, a 36-year-old of China. They were arrested in October 2020, facing 11 felony counts, including money laundering and wire fraud. Being a part of the team that helped in developing and selling modchips and jailbreaking software, Bowser was sentenced to three years of jail time. He filed a plea agreement in which he pleaded guilty on two of the 11 charges: conspiracy to circumvent technological measures and trafficking in circumvention devices, as well as agreeing that the motive of Team Xecutor with its products was always for-profit piracy. On top of serving more than three years, Bowser will also have to pay USD 10 million to the Japanese gaming giant as part of an earlier settlement and another USD 4.5 million in restitution to Nintendo of America. However, the damage Bowser has caused is estimated to be upwards of USD 65 million.
Bowser, to make things extra surreal, shares his surname with the American name for Bowser, the traditional antagonist of the Super Mario Bros. game franchise, as well as Doug Bowser, a current Nintendo of America president.
In a press release, Nintendo appreciates the hard work and tireless efforts of federal prosecutors and law enforcement agencies to curb illegal activities on a global scale that cause serious harm to Nintendo and the video game industry.
Federal prosecutors had initially pursued a 60-month sentence against Bowser, intending to “send a message” to similar hacking groups. Bowser’s defenders had argued for a more lenient 19-month sentence, as Bowser was only the PR guy or website manager, but that difference got split.
As for Bowser’s co-defendants, Louarn is reportedly in custody in his native France. Chen has not yet been arrested.
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