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Nintendo has described the prison sentence of Gary Bowser, a member of a hacker group, as a “very significant moment.”
Bowser was part of a group called Team-Xecuter, which has been pirating Nintendo hardware since 2013. The group made and sold devices that allow people to play illegal ROMs on the Switch and the 3DS.
Axios has reported on the trial, and has quoted from the transcript, revealing details on the ruling. Nintendo’s lawyer, Ajay Singh, reportedly said:
“This is a very significant moment for us. . . . It’s the purchase of video games that sustains Nintendo and the Nintendo ecosystem, and it is the games that make the people smile. It’s for that reason that we do all we can to prevent games on Nintendo systems from being stolen.”
US district court judge Robert Lasnik reportedly said:
“I always tell the jurors, ‘Your role is not to send a message. Your role is to decide guilt or innocence on the facts.’ But my role sometimes does entail sending a message.”
Judge Lasnik also spoke about the length of Mr Bowser’s sentence:
“I want the message to be clear that, under normal circumstances, I would send Mr Bowser to prison for five years.”
Mr Bowser has apparently received over three years jailtime, down from what would be five years. This is because he has already been in prison for sixteen months.
