Hacker Gary Bowser, who hacked Nintendo consoles, was released from prison, but he will be paying a fine of $14.5 million for the rest of his life

Canadian Gary Bowser, who was serving a 40-month term for hacking Nintendo consoles, was released from prison early for good behavior, but he will pay a $14.5 million fine to Nintendo for the rest of his life, which was ordered by the court. This is written by VGC.

Bowser, who belonged to the hacker group Team Xecuter, was released from federal prison in March and is currently being held in a detention center in Tacoma, Washington, pending extradition to Canada.

According to the court verdict, Bowser must pay $14.5 million in damages to Nintendo, $10 million of which is considered a priority. While in jail, Bowser has already paid $175, $14,499,825 is left.

“With the agreement with [Nintendo], the maximum they can take is between 25% and 30% of your monthly gross income,” Bowser said. “And I have up until, like, six months before I have to start making payments.”

With that deduction percentage, to fully settle with Nintendo, Bowser would need to earn at least $40 million before taxes. Since Bowser is now 53 years old, he will most likely be paying off Nintendo’s debt for the rest of his life.

As it became known from transcripts, during the hearing, Nintendo’s lawyer Ajay Singh said the sentence was a “unique opportunity” to send a message about piracy.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnick appeared to agree with Singh, saying that TV and movies regularly glorify hacking, making it seem it’s no big deal considering how much money big companies make.

At one point, Lasnick asked Singh, “What else can we do to convince people that there’s no glory in this hacking/piracy?”

Singh answered: “There would be a large benefit to further education of the public.”