The Nintendo hacker was released from prison last year and is the one who will have to pay the Japanese company for the rest of his life.

Gary Bowser (who is only related in name to Bowser, the villain of the Mario universe!) was part of a hacker group called Team-Xecuter. This gang began developing and selling solutions to run illegal ROMs (game copies) on Big N hardware like the 3DS and Switch in 2013. Although Bowser has been released from prison, he told The Guardian that his case should serve as a deterrent to others. He believes that his time in prison was a warning to others who are still at large. If they are caught, they too will be behind bars for a long time.

Bowser was arrested in September 2020 and charged with eleven offenses in 2021. But he did not stand trial. Instead, he pleaded guilty to two counts and offered to pay $4.5 million to Nintendo. As a result, he will have to pay the big N some of his remaining income after all his necessities. He told The Guardian that he’s paying the Japanese company what he can, but it’s not a lot of money. In another civil court ruling, he must pay Nintendo another $10 million (!) for his role in selling console mods. According to the US government, Team-Xecuter made tens of millions of dollars in sales, causing the group up to $150 million in damages.

The saddest part of the case is that Bowser will have to pay Nintendo for the rest of his life. You could say that this is a cautionary tale, but it is terrible that the Japanese company had to resort to such a thing. If someone has no money, it will be hard for them to get what they think they deserve. 14.5 million dollars is not an insignificant amount of money. Of course, the fact that it is pocket change for Nintendo is irrelevant.

Source: VGC, The Guardian