You read the title correctly. A company with Doug Bowser as the president of Nintendo of America is suing a Nintendo Switch hacker named Gary Bowser. We can’t make this stuff up. Gary Bowser is a leader of hack creators, Team Xecuter. According to Polygon, Bowser was already arrested back in 2020 and charged with 11 felonies. Nintendo’s new lawsuit is charging Bowser for two trafficking counts and one copyright violation.
To put this in simple terms, what Bowser has done is pretty serious. Basically, he was selling Nintendo Switch hacking devices that allowed people to get around Nintendo’s security and be able to play pirated Nintendo Switch games. Considering that Bowser has been creating and selling these hacking devices since 2013 for the Nintendo 3DS, it’s no surprise to see this catching up to him. Nintendo has been compiling a lawsuit of everything he has created and sold since this time.
Despite some making the argument that these hacks are good for game preservation, we’re certain that Nintendo will want to hear none of that, given how often and how hard Nintendo has jumped into lawsuits in the past. When it comes to protecting their property, Nintendo is relentless.
At this time, it looks like Nintendo is seeking $2,500 for each trafficked device and $150,000 for each copyright violation. In addition, Nintendo looks to shut down Team Xecuter for good to prevent further hacking and piracy promotion.
Team executer, on the flip side, has spoken up against Nintendo. According to Team Xecuter, Nintendo is guilty of censorship, monopolistic control, and legal scare tactics, which is why groups like Executer are needed in the first place.
It’s hard to say if Nintendo is fully in the right here or if there is some legitimacy to the Team Executer’s claims that they’re simply attempting to support gaming enthusiasts around and the world and fight against limited accessibility. Either way, we know that Nintendo isn’t going to care about the analysis, so we expect to see Bowser lose a fair amount of money.