Bowser sentenced to 40 months for Team Xecuter’s console hacking

Enlarge / A prototype SX Core device soldered to a Nintendo Switch motherboard. (credit: Team Xeceuter)

Gary Bowser, a member of the notorious Team Xecuter group of console hackers, has been sentenced to 40 months in prison for his role in promoting and selling devices in the SX OS line of piracy-enabling devices for the Nintendo Switch.

The final sentence, which comes after Bowser filed a guilty plea in November, falls almost precisely between the 60 months sought by prosecutors and the 19 months sought by Bowser's defense. Bowser has already served 16 months of pre-sentencing detention after being arrested in the Dominican Republic and deported to the US in 2020.

In pushing for jail time for Bowser, federal prosecutors were clear that they thought a significant sentence "would send a message that there are consequences for participating in a sustained effort to undermine the video game industry." Prosecutors are also expecting that media coverage of Bowser's fate will help with deterrence, writing that "any sentence imposed in this case will be widely disseminated within the video gaming community, as this case is being watched closely by the industry."

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