Man Accused of Selling Modified Switch Consoles Has Been Arrested

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home January 17, 2025 3 Views 5 Min Read
Man Accused of Selling Modified Switch Consoles Has Been Arrested



Summary

  • Modding consoles for piracy is illegal in Japan.
  • A man was arrested for altering and selling Nintendo Switch systems.
  • There have been previous cases of arrests for modifying games in Japan.

A Japanese man has been arrested for modding Nintendo Switch consoles. It’s the latest in cracking down on those who modify consoles like the Nintendo Switch and/or games and then try to sell them on the open market.

Modding consoles is a popular hobby and has been for nearly as long as consoles have existed. Whether using something as simple as cheat device like the GameShark on an original PlayStation, or jailbreaking a console so that illicitly downloaded games can be played, gamers and tinkerers have been coming up with ways to alter their hardware to do things they weren’t programmed to for years. Japan has previously shown that it doesn’t take these things lightly, and now another gaming modder is finding themselves behind bars as a result.

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According to Japanese publication NTV News, a 58-year-old man named Fumihiro Otobe has been arrested in Japan for the crime of violating the Trademark Act by altering and selling modified Nintendo Switch systems. The report claims the man was modding the devices by altering their circuit boards. By welding modified parts to them, he was able to make it so that any pirated game could be played on the device, and was also including 27 pirated games with each sale. He was using second-hand Switch consoles for this, and was selling them for roughly $180 USD. The news outlet says this is the first time an arrest of this nature involving the Switch has been made.

Game Pirating is Taken Seriously in Japan

While most system modders can get away with it if they’re limiting their modifications to their own systems, trying to sell said systems is another matter. News stories have previously broken of individuals being arrested for modifying Pokemon games, adding critters to the titles that players hadn’t actually captured themselves. It’s nothing new, either, as a 44-year-old was arrested in Japan back in 2020 for modifying a PS3 that would copy games inserted into it so that the disc could then be returned or resold.

At the moment, the case against the Switch modder is still being investigated. However, he’s already admitted to the crime, stating that he thought others would find him “amazing” for doing such a thing. It remains to be seen what kind of punishment he receives, as it will likely be based upon how many systems he modified and distributed. Aside from any that he had already sold, four units were found in his home, which have now been seized.

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