Police have arrested nine Italian nationals thought to be selling counterfeit retro games and consoles for a video game trafficking ring estimated to be worth almost £42m (€50m / $55.5m).
The pirated material included 12,000 counterfeit “Nintendo, Sega, and Atari” consoles holding 47m fake versions of retro games like Mario Bros., Street Fighter, and Star Wars.
As reported by the BBCTurin police confirmed the devices – which were using non-certified electronics and batteries that did not meet EU safety standards – were being sold online or to specialist shops.
All goods have since been destroyed. If found guilty, the defendants face up to eight years in prison.
Retro games – and the tech needed to run them – are big business. A couple of years ago, a rare, sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. sold for $2 million (£1.44m).
The record-breaking auction followed the sale of another pristine sealed copy of Super Mario 64, which sold for $1.56m (£1.12m).
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