Video game consoles packed with digital games have been around for quite some time, but have taken off ever since Nintendo launched the first Nintendo Classic console back in 2016. Now, you can find hundreds of them via places like Amazon or AliExpress. The only issue is that not all of them are legal.
Many of the consoles on the market that offer dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of games through the use of emulation, aren’t properly licensed. In fact, many of those don’t even have the real games they tend to promise within cleverly written product titles. Instead, the games are replaced with cheaper knock-offs of many of the classic games out there (ie, Mario, Tetris, Double Dragon, Street Fighter, Sonic, etc). This market has been growing quite strongly for a number of years now with new sellers popping up weekly.
This seems to have caught the eye of law enforcement in Italy where they have taken down a ring that was selling fake consoles packed with pirated video games (aka, ROMs). The total value of what was seized was more than 50 million USD. The consoles and all of the games were unlicensed (not licensed to the sellers), meaning that none of the profits went to the companies that owned the rights to them.
There were around 12,000 consoles that were seized, each packed with many thousands of emulated video games onboard. Imported from China (to Italy), they were being sold by the group both on and offline. Not only that, but the electronics inside didn’t meet safety standards, which could lead to fire or shock. Showing how important it is to invest your money in properly licensed and approved products. Not only do you ensure that the proper parties get their due profits, but you take that extra step to protect your home and yourself from any potential dangers.
This comes soon after Nintendo won a big case against the developer of a popular emulator (Yuzu). It could mark an increase in crackdowns on piracy at this level.
