It's no secret that piracy is always a hot issue in video games, particularly with games that are still available for sale through official channels. Hacking video games for many reasons often prompts a severe response from corporations, with one Japanese man arrested for selling hacked Pokemon to other players.
Nintendo is particularly aggressive when it comes to dealing with anyone stepping out of line with its copyrighted properties. Sometimes this means issuing cease and desist orders to players creating their own fan versions or continuations of games, but in the case of one man selling pirated versions of Nintendo titles, the punishment was more severe, and that was very intentional.
The case centers around a man named Gary Bowser, of no relation to the Bowser of Mario fame or Doug Bowser who works for Nintendo. Bowser was found guilty of pirating Nintendo titles and sentenced to prison time. He faces a little over three years in prison as well as a huge fine of 15 million dollars. If that sounds excessive, that's because it was by design: Nintendo lawyer Ajay Singh made it clear that the sentence was meant to send a message to potential malefactors.
According to Singh, Nintendo takes the sale of its video games more seriously than anything else, which makes a lot of sense. As such, the company wants to come down as heavily as possible on pirates, and Bowser's very public sentencing provides the opportunity to dissuade others from doing the same. Originally Nintendo wanted Bowser to serve a five-year sentence, but the judge sentenced him to 40 months instead. The judge in the case made it clear that Bowser's accomplices, still at large, will likely receive even longer sentences.
Currently, Bowser has served 16 months of his 40-month-long sentence, with almost a third of the time spent in full confinement due to COVID-19. In that time, due to not being able to get a leg condition treated, Bowser has had to move about the prison in a wheelchair.
To hear Bowser and his lawyer tell it, the sentence has been very adverse to his health so far, and this will likely continue to be the case. In addition, Bowser will likely be paying Nintendo for years, considering his piracy enterprise did not make anything close to $15 million. While a harsh crackdown on piracy is understandable, this particular punishment may well lessen many opinions of Nintendo. After all, many hacks of Nintendo games, like the Super Mario 64/Guilty Gear crossover, are beloved. However, there is a huge difference between a simple hack like this and Bowser's crime, something that is important to keep in mind always.
Source: Axios