Switch modder Bowser released from prison, likely owes Nintendo for rest of life

Gary Bowser, a member of the notorious Team Xecuter Switch modding group, will soon be allowed to return to his home country of Canada. He will not, however, be able to avoid the $14.5 million in repayment Nintendo will likely be pulling from him for the rest of his life.

Bowser, a key figure in the nominative determinism hypothesis, is often described as a "hacker" but mainly worked in sales and promotion for Team Xecuter (or TX) as "kind of a PR guy." The group developed and sold jailbreaking devices dating back to the original Xbox under various brand and release names. While these devices opened up systems for homebrew, Linux, and other uses, they also made it simple to load pirated ROMs onto devices. Team Xecuter benefited from the open source work of Switch hackers, sold devices at a profit to help others hack their Switches, and were far more explicit about the piracy aspects of their exploits than other groups.

That's why the arrest of Bowser and other TX members shocked the console hacking scene when their indictments came down in October 2020. The Department of Justice arranged for the arrest and extradition of Gary "GaryOPA" Bowser in the Dominican Republic and Max "MaxiMiLiEN" Louarn in France (eventually found in Tanzania but not yet extradited), and it pursued Yuanning "100+1" Chen in Shenzen, China. Charging for products--and being brazen about their piracy uses--seemed to spur Nintendo to action, which in turn pushed the DOJ.

Bowser was sentenced to 40 months in prison and restitution of $4.5 million in February 2022 after pleading guilty to criminal charges. He had previously agreed to pay Nintendo $10 million in a separate civil suit. Bowser's guilty plea stated that despite "tens of millions of dollars" in sales, he personally made an estimated $320,000 over seven years. Team Xecuter's devices, Bowser admitted in his plea, were primarily designed to allow pirated ROM playing. The DOJ, relying on Nintendo's assertions of market losses to piracy, had originally pushed for a 60-month sentence.

Having served 16 months in pretrial custody and discounting for good behavior, Bowser has been transferred from federal prison to the Northwest Detention Center in Washington and is awaiting transfer to Canada. Bowser revealed his release on the NickMoses 05 Gaming Podcast (also available in a non-echo-laden longer version), as first reported by TorrentFreak.

During his time in prison, Bowser's federal job has been garnished by Nintendo through the DOJ. Bowser told Nick Moses he has paid $175 since his detention. Bowser told Moses that Nintendo will take 25 to 30 percent of his gross monthly income, and he will have up to six months before he has to start making payments.

Bowser previously worked as an accountant and had repair businesses and other consulting work. He tossed around some future job ideas with Moses on his podcast, including vacation rental development. The median salary in Toronto, where he is likely to be sent to stay with family, was $85,500 CAD in 2020. It seems unlikely that Bowser, in his early 50s and now a convicted felon, will be able to accrue more than $18.1 million CAD to pay his US settlements.

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