Nintendo Is Suing Hacker Gary Bowser Over Switch Hacks

Nintendo is infamous for having a no-mercy policy for hackers and it is reminding us of the same, yet again.

On Friday, the gaming giant’s American division filed a lawsuit against prominent Switch hacker Gary Bowser, the reported leader of hack creators Team Xecuter and his associate Max Louarn. This lawsuit follows Bowser’s and Louarn’s arrest in October 2020 where both were charged with 11 counts of felony. In addition to Bowser and Louarn, the US government will also be going after Yuanning Chen, another Team Xecuter member, from Shenzhen, China.

The new lawsuit alleges that Bowser infringed on Nintendo’s copyright in creating and selling its hacks and is looking to charge him with two trafficking counts and one copyright violation.

Team Xecuter is known for selling hacks that help players play pirated games by bypassing the security systems on their consoles. While it has made hacks for multiple consoles in the past, the team is best known for selling Nintendo mod chips which have been released under a bunch of different names like the Gateway 3DS, the Stargate, the TrueBlue Mini and the Classic2Magic.

While the argument that these hacks are good for game preservation can be made, there is no way that Nintendo is going to take this lying down given the company’s history with lawsuits. The company is notoriously protective of its IPs and will do anything to protect them from the likes of TX, who the company’s lawsuit  has crowned an “international pirate ring”.

In fact, this is not the first time that Nintendo has gone after TX. The company has filed lawsuits against some of TX’s previous devices, notably the SX Pro, SX Core, and SX Lite; the three devices are used to hack the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite.

Nintendo America is currently seeking $2,500 for each trafficked device and $150,000 for each copyright violation. In addition, Nintendo is also looking to pursue the complete shut down of TX to prevent any future hacking and piracy promotion.

With Nintendo director Doug Bowser going after hacker Gary Bowser, this will be the kind of Bowser battle that hasn’t been seen in any Nintendo game ever before. The future headlines will write themselves.

Bowser is currently being held in custody on US soil after his deportation from the Dominican Republic in September. Louarn was arrested in Canada, from where the United States is seeking his extradition. Chen remains at large.

About Nintendo

Nintendo is a Japanese video game and electronic company. They are well-known throughout the world for rolling out best-selling consoles and games.

Game Boy, Wii, and Nintendo Switch, etc., are some of the consoles that Nintendo is credited for. They are also applauded for making gems like Mario, Pokemon, The Legend of Zelda, etc.

From rich finances to high honors, Nintendo has it all!