Gary Bowser, the console hacker who found himself in scalding hot water with Nintendo for selling hacked Switch games, will soon be exiting the US Federal prison after 40 months. However, despite being let out early, his punishment and “atonement” to the Japanese game company is far from over.
Even as Bowser awaits his long-awaited flight to his home country of Canada, Nintendo still isn’t letting the man off the hook that easily and has gotten a court order, demanding that he pays the company US$14.5 million (~RM64.3 million) in damages. In an interview with YouTuber Nick Moses, Bowser says that it is unlikely that he will be able to repay that amount in his lifetime, and that is in spite of US$4.5 million (~RM20 million) from that amount won’t have to be paid back, since he will not be in US.
Bowser said that while in prison, Nintendo was already taking between 25% and 30% of his “monthly gross income” and that’s what the gaming corporation is planning on doing for the rest of his earthly life. As is the case of US Federal prisons, inmates are allowed to work jobs behind bars, but the total amount that he has paid back thus far is only US$175 (~RM775), an amount that is basically just a drop in the ocean.
Some of you are probably wondering who Bowser is. Here’s a quick recap: Back in 2020, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the man and his group of hackers, Team Xecuter. Back then, the company alleged that Bowser had infringed on its copyright by doing what they did: essentially jailbreaking numerous titles and then illegally selling them to willing buyers.
As we pointed out before, there’s a very subtle yet sweet irony in the whole situation. In the game Super Mario, the main villain of the game is a character named Bowser, so it’s actually a little funny that Nintendo has fought and won against a person that shares the namesake with the character.
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