Team Xecuter is a

hacker group Hacker groups are informal communities that began to flourish in the early 1980s, with the advent of the home computer. Overview Prior to that time, the term ''hacker'' was simply a referral to any computer hobbyist. The hacker groups were out ...

known for making

mod chip A modchip (short for modification chip) is a small electronic device used to alter or disable artificial restrictions of computers or entertainment devices. Modchips are mainly used in video game consoles, but also in some DVD or Blu-ray players ...

s and jailbreaking game consoles. Among console hackers, who primarily consist of hobbyists testing boundaries and believe in the

open-source model Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

, Team Xecuter was controversial for selling hacking tools for profit. Console systems targeted by the group include the

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NES Classic Edition NES Classic Edition is a dedicated home video game console by Nintendo, which emulates the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It launched on November 10, 2016 in Australia and Japan, and November 11, 2016 in North America and Europe. Aesthet ...

Sony PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divi ...

Microsoft Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

and the

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. In September 2020 Canadian national, Gary "GaryOPA" Bowser, and French national, Max "MAXiMiLiEN" Louarn, were arrested for designing and selling "circumvention devices", in particular, products to circumvent

copy protection, and were named, along with Chinese citizen Yuanning Chen, in a federal indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, WA on August 20, 2020. Each of the three men named in the indictment faced 11 felony counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to circumvent technological measures and to traffic in circumvention devices, trafficking in circumvention devices, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Bowser handled

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

for the group, which has been in operation since "at least" 2013. By October 2021, Bowser pled guilty to two charges related to distribution of Team Xecuter's devices, agreeing to pay a penalty and to continue to work with authorities in their continued investigation of Team Xecuter in exchange for dropping the other nine charges against him. In December, he was ordered to pay another $10 million to Nintendo. On February 10, 2022, Bowser was sentenced to 40 months in prison. Nintendo separately filed a civil lawsuit against Bowser in April 2021 related to three counts of copyright infringement, seeking damages of $2500 per trafficked device, and $150,000 for each copyright violation. Nintendo has also successfully prevailed in other lawsuits involving resellers of Team Xecuter devices.

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