Nintendo Hacker Jail Sentence Meant to 'Send a Message'
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.
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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.
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