Nintendo hacker Gary Bowser sentenced to 3 years in jail

Nintendo has announced that Gary Bowser, the man accused of creating and selling circumvention devices enabling users to play illegal ROMs on consoles, including Switch and 3DS has been sentenced to 40 months.

Bowser was a member of a hacking group called Team-Xecuter, which in 2013 began creating and selling circumvention devices enabling users to play illegal ROMs on consoles, including Switch and 3DS.

According to the US government, the group’s criminal enterprise generated tens of millions of dollars in sales and resulted in up to $150 million in losses to victims.

In a statement released on February 10, Nintendo said that it “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.”

The statement continues: ” In particular, Nintendo would like to thank the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) of the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs for their significant contribution and assistance.”

Bowser was arrested in September 2020 and appeared in court last October charged with 11 felony counts. Instead of facing trial, he pled guilty to two counts and offered to pay Nintendo $4.5 million.

Nintendo was originally seeking a 5-year jail term for the hacker.

Bowser’s legal team has asked the court to impose a 19-month prison sentence, which would see him released in three months given time already served.

In a separate civil case ruling, Bowser was ordered to pay Nintendo an additional $10 million fine for his part in selling console mods.