It's not unusual to see Nintendo track down anyone who messes with its products — be that through mods, emulation, or copyright issues — but the outcome of a recent Japanese court ruling feels like a comparative slapped wrist when compared to some of the wrath we've seen from The House of Mario in the past (thanks for the heads up, Automaton).
Back in January 2024, 58-year-old transportation worker Fumihiro Otobe became the first man to be arrested in Japan for selling modified Switch consoles. Otobe admitted to the charges immediately, stating, "I was curious if people would think I was great for selling modified machines", as police discovered four Switch units with soldered circuit boards during a house search.
The modder was apparently selling these units online with 27 pirated games in tow for 28,000 yen (around £150 / $196). It sounds like a pretty small-scale operation and, judging by the outcome of the court ruling, it seems Nintendo thought similarly.
As reported by the Japanese news outlet NTV News, the country's first Switch mod case ended in Otobe being handed a 500,000 yen fine (roughly £2,600 / $3,500) and a two-year prison sentence, suspended for three years — meaning he might not end up serving any time at all.
Obviously, nobody would want to have to cough up a fine like that, but compared to some of the numbers we've seen from Nintendo in the past, this is small potatoes. As pointed out by PC Gamer, modder Gary Bowser was fined a whopping $14.5 million — a 400,000% increase on Otobe — and sentenced to 30 months in prison back in 2022.
And let's be clear here, Bowser's Team Xecuter operation was substantially larger than this Japanese case. Over at least seven years, Bowser engaged in the building and sale of devices for hacking Switch consoles to play pirated games. His court hearing in 2022 resulted in fines for both "restitution" and "monetary relief" to Nintendo of America, with a US attorney at the time claiming he had "caused more than $65 million in losses to video game companies".
Otobe's modding practices were clearly nowhere near the same scale, but you can only assume that he feels relieved he managed to avoid quite as heavy a blow.