Team Xecuter member gets 3 years in prison for distributing Switch mod chips

Canadian hacker Gary Bowser has been jailed for 40 months for his role in Switch modchipmaker group Team Xecuter. The sentence is almost two years less than the US government had demanded. Bowser was responsible for the websites, among other things.

In ruling, US judge Robert S. Lasnik said Bowser’s activities are “serious crimes” with “real casualties and damage to the community.” The judge agrees with the plaintiffs’ allegations that the actions of Team Xecuter caused game companies to lose more than $65 million, and that developers and small creative studios were also hit because their work was “essentially stolen.”

Bowser was not solely responsible for Team Xecuter; the organization consisted of more than twelve people. Bowser is the first to be found guilty by a US court and to receive a prison sentence. The Canadian managed Team Xecuter’s websites, through which the organization sold modchips to customers. With the websites, Bowser also announced new products, answered questions, and created lists of which games could be played with the modded consoles.

The organization made and sold modchips for the Nintendo Switch, 3DS and NES Classic Edition, and the Sony PlayStation Classic and Microsoft Xbox. Bowser was arrested in Canada in October 2020 and confessed more than a year later. Bowser will pay Nintendo $4.5 million as part of the ruling. At the end of last year, Bowser settled with Nintendo for 10 million dollars, in a separate lawsuit filed by the console maker. The Japanese company says it is happy with the verdict and jail time, and thanks the government and the court for their help.