Dominican Republic resident Gary Bowser has been convicted for his role in a Nintendo Switch piracy ring and he is to pay a total sum of $14.5 Million to Nintendo. Bowser, who stays in a tiny and seemingly inexpensive apartment, was recently sentenced to over 3 years in prison.
Bowser’s Dominican Republic apartment is sparse, but it is believed that he committed many of the offenses he was accused of, right from his computer in the apartment. He was accused of sabotaging the efforts of video game giant Nintendo in running websites and developing devices for the Team Xecutor organization, which let people run pirated games on their Nintendo Switch consoles.
After his sentencing a week back, Bowser has agreed to pay $4,500,000 in restitution to Nintendo. This was in addition to the earlier civil lawsuit concluded in December 2021, in which Bowser was ordered to pay $10,000,000.
Nintendo has continued to pursue an aggressive policy to tackle piracy across its games and consoles. It also routinely shuts down ROM sites where people can download pirated games. This particular individual conviction however shows that the bug fishes and masterminds of piracy are still out there enjoying their loot, at least for now. It also shows that the company will remain unrelenting until it wipes out piracy of its games and consoles with grave economic implications. Nintendo published a press statement thanking the U.S. government for its efforts in apprehending Bowser. The huge amount still goes to show how seriously Nintendo and the U.S. government view piracy.
The Department of Justice in 2020 charged Bowser along with Max Louarn, Xecutor’s mastermind who recruited investors and developers as well as establishing Xecutor’s manufacturer with resellers around the world, the court documents revealed. Also charged was Yuanning Chen, who oversaw the management of a manufacturing and distribution company named ChinaDistrib. Xecutor generated tens of millions of dollars in proceeds from its piracy scheme, while Bowser was paid an average of about $1,000 a month in the seven years he was charged with maintaining the organization’s websites. On the other hand, neither Louarn nor Chen have been apprehended, as it is likely they were, like several other Xecutor’s collaborators, using fake identities.
RELATED:
- How to connect Bluetooth headphones/speaker to your Nintendo Switch/Switch Lite
- Nintendo looking to ‘substitute components and tweak designs’ to tackle chip shortage
- Apple makes more money via gaming than Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, Activision combined
- How to connect Bluetooth headphones/speaker to your Nintendo Switch/Switch Lite
- Arm CEO warns that the global chip shortage could extend beyond December 2021
(via)
