Members Of The Video Game Piracy Group Team Xecuter Have Been Arrested

For the longest time, Nintendo had been known to drop the hammer down on emulation websites that host their goods. It looks like they have gained some footing in a long battle to stop piracy of the 3DS and the Nintendo Switch at the hands of Team Xecutor, notorious for selling goods designed to jailbreak game hardware for the Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch, Sony PlayStation Classic, and the NES Classic. In September 2020, the two members, Max Loraun, 48, and Gary Bowser, 51, were arrested abroad. According to the court documents, Team Xecuter is comprised of over a dozen members around the world and include developers who look for flaws and exploit vulnerabilities in video game hardware and software. Through website building and manufacturing, Team Xecuter had their goods promoted and distributed.

From June 2013 to August 2020, Team Executor had used many names for their illegal products, such as the Gateway 3DS, the Stargate, the TrueBlue Mini, the Classic2Magic, and the SX line of devices that included the SX OS, the SX Pro, the SX Lite, and the SX Core. Team Xecuter avoided legal ramifications and protected their business by using various websites and brand names.

“Imagine if something you invented was stolen from you and then marketed and sold to customers around the world. That is exactly what Team Xecuter was doing,” said Special Agent in Charge Raymond Duda of the FBI’s Seattle Field Office. “This is a perfect example of why the FBI has made the prevention of the theft of intellectual property a priority. These arrests should send a message to would-be pirates that the FBI does not consider these crimes to be a game.”

Each defendant is charged with 11 felony counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to circumvent technological measures and to traffic in circumvention devices, trafficking in circumvention devices, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. 

Views on practices like emulation and jailbreaking hardware is mixed throughout many hobbyists and enthusiasts. A general opinion is Nintendo is overly harsh and incredibly strict with how swift and forcefully they DMCA claim any independent remakes of games like The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time and Super Mario 64. With emulation, most websites host the files for free and wish to "share the memories" and preserve many games that have a very small chance of seeing the light of a redistribution. The reality is there a great risk to manipulating and hacking hardware, especially a company as ridged and unforgiving as Nintendo, who aim to make a statement by getting one step closer to closing down Team Xecuter.

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