How a Hacker’s $14.5 Million Debt to Nintendo May Never Be Repaid

The person responsible for committing cyber crimes against Nintendo is coming out of jail early but with a condition. Gary Bowser was a member of Team-Xecuter, a hacking group that created and sold devices that let users play illegal ROMs for consoles like Switch and 3DS.

The US court sentenced him for this crime to 40 months in prison in February 2022. The group had been selling the ROMs of Nintendo Switch illegally and Nintendo wanted to set an example with the type of punishment they got. Nintendo is serious when it comes to illegal work, and the recent action taken on a GameStop employee who leaked the Switch OLED of the upcoming Zelda game proves the case.

An early release for the Nintendo hacker, but a lifetime punishment

Bowser, a Canadian citizen, is being held in the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington currently. In an interview with Nick Moses, as reported by TorrentFreak, he stated the federal prison released him at the end of March. He will be going back to Canada from the detention center.

Although Bowser got out early, he still has to execute the other part of his sentence. He has to pay a massive $14.5 million in damages, of which $10 million will be going to Nintendo. Settling up the payment to Nintendo is his first priority.

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Bowser has stated he has paid a menial amount of $175 of this payment from jobs done in the prison. “With the agreement with [Nintendo], the maximum they can take is between 25% and 30% of your monthly gross income,” Bowser said. “And I have up until, like, six months before I have to start making payments.” 

Bowser may never be able to completely clear the debt

Calculating the payment from this 25-30%, Bowser will have to earn at least $40 million before taxes. Given Bowser’s age of 53, he is unlikely to ever fully repay his debt. He will most likely continue paying Nintendo for the rest of his life.

While Nintendo will not be getting a big amount of their money back, they surely set an example with this case. From the transcript of the trial in June 2022, Nintendo lawyer Ajay Singh stated the imprisonment was a “unique opportunity” to convey a message about piracy.

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What are your thoughts on Nintendo’s strict actions against the hacker? Let us know in the comment section below.