Nintendo announced today that Gary Bowser, head of Nintendo's cracking team (the same name as Nintendo's classic character "Kuba"), will be jailed for 40 months for making and selling devices that host pirated games. While this is significant, it is less than the 5-year prison sentence previously requested by the U.S. government.
Earlier, Eurogamer found in a court filing that the U.S. government initially proposed a sentence of 60 months. In the view of the Government of the United States, their recommendation that the sentence reflect "the nature and circumstances of the crime, the history and characteristics of the accused, and the need for the sentencing to reflect the gravity of the crime, promote respect for the law and provide a just punishment ... Provide adequate deterrence against criminal acts. ”
Bowser's team of lawyers, however, demanded a shorter sentence on the grounds that their client was "the least guilty defendant in this lawsuit and the only defendant to be arrested," making him "the first" defendant. His lawyers admitted that Nintendo "suffered significant financial losses" as a result of the crimes, but they believed a 19-month prison sentence was appropriate.
In the end, the court reached a compromise and decided to sentence Bowser to a little more than three years in prison. In addition, in another civil lawsuit by Nintendo, Bowser also had to compensate Nintendo for $10 million.
Bowser previously admitted that he had received "at least tens of millions of dollars" from cracking devices, but it is understood he took only a fraction of it. According to Foreign Media Outlet, his defender estimates that Bowser has made a total of $320,000 over seven years, and he said the rest of the team made more.