Nintendo hacker could lose up to 30% of their income for the rest of their life in damages

Super Mario Odyssey — (Image credit: Nintendo)

Nintendo hacker who was sentenced to 40 months in prison in 2022 will be released early, but they could end up paying Nintendo back for the rest of their working life.

In 2020, Gary Bowser - a member of the hacking group Team Xecuter - was arrested due to their involvement with the group that made "at least tens of millions of dollars" by selling emulation devices to play pirated Nintendo games. Now, in April 2023, it has been revealed that Bowser is set to be released from the SeaTac Federal Detention Center early due to good behavior and time already served.

The story doesn't end there though, as Bowser has agreed to pay $10 million in damages to Nintendo. According to Bowser, speaking to YouTuber NickMoses05 (thanks, Kotaku), Nintendo can take between 25 - 30% of Bowser's income for the rest of their working life. So far, they've managed to pay $175 back due to the job they worked whilst in prison, but there's still a long way to go before Nintendo's demand is met.

This is just one of several stories we've reported on where Nintendo has taken action to protect its IPs. Just recently, Nintendo subpoenaed Discord in pursuit of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom leaker after images from the upcoming game's art book were leaked on the platform. Elsewhere, the GameStop employee who shared the Tears of the Kingdom console ahead of time says he was fired "at Nintendo's request".

Take a look at our upcoming Switch games list to find out what we've got to look forward to in the near future.

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training. My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.