Fake retro video game ring worth E50m smashed in Italy

Source: BBC

Fake retro video game ring worth €50m smashed in Italy

14 September 2024

Ruth Comerford
BBC News

A video game trafficking ring has been smashed by police in Italy, after fake vintage consoles and games worth almost €50m ($55.5m) were seized.

Among the counterfeit games were popular titles from the 1980s and 90s, including Mario Bros., Street Fighter and Star Wars.

The pirated consoles were imitations of the iconic devices produced by Nintendo, Sega and Atari and did not meet strict safety standards.

New versions of video games and gaming consoles that were released decades ago have recently soared in popularity and command high prices, in a cultural trend known as "retrogaming".

Around 12,000 consoles holding over 47 million pirated video games were seized by police, Alessandro Langella, head of the economic crime unit for Turin's financial police, told the AFP news agency.

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Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1k7387pmrpo