Hacker Bowser Should Pay Nintendo $10 Million

Using these so-called chips, it is possible, among other things, to play illegally downloaded games. Bowser (real name) worked with Team Xecuter to make and sell modchips. He has been working on it since 2013.

Bowser was already fined $5.4 million (€4.7 million) in October in a criminal case. The $10 million fine is on top of that from a civil case brought by Nintendo against him. Nintendo sought damages of $2,500 for each hacked device and $150,000 for each copyright infringement.

The man was arrested in 2020 with another member of Team Xecuter, Max Warren. According to Nintendo, the two men were part of an “international hacker gang”.

Several things about modchips

The Japanese gaming company has already started working around selling modchips. There are many hack chips on the market, including the popular Nintendo Switch chips.

The case against Bowser has reached many major gaming sites around the world, in part because the hacker shares his last name with Mario’s most famous antagonist.

Modchips are also used to archive old games and make them playable on new platforms. However, Team Xecuter has a bad reputation: in a file to interview With Ars Technica, Switch hacker Kate Temkin described the group’s behavior as “unethical”. For example, a company will encourage hacking for financial gain and keep malicious software vulnerabilities secret.