Japanese police have arrested a man accused of modifying and selling Nintendo Switch consoles.
It’s the first time someone under suspicion of breaking the country’s Trademark Act by handling modded Switch consoles has been arrested, NTV News (via Automaton) reports, potentially setting a new, harsher precedent for the future.
The 58-year-old suspect is believed to have made a business out of modifying second-hand Switch consoles so that they play pirated games, and reselling these modded units for 28,000 yen (about £150) apiece.
The man, who has reportedly admitted to the charge, also offered a bundle of 27 pirated games to play on the modded consoles for an additional fee.
Today’s news comes just days after the deputy general manager of Nintendo’s Japanese intellectual property department said the company was beefing up its stance against illegal emulation.
Nintendo is of course no stranger to legal action when it feels its products are under threat, and has made an example out of individuals in the past.
In 2022, a Nintendo lawyer pressed to ensure the maximum five-year jail time was handed down to the infamous Gary Bowser – who worked as part of another business that enabled Switch piracy – as it would be “a large benefit to further education of the public”.
Speaking last year, Bowser – now freed from prison but in financial debt to Nintendo due to fines for the rest of his working life – said his sentence had been designed like a message “to other people that [are] still out there, that if they get caught … [they’ll] serve hard time”.