Italian police seize €50m of counterfeit retro consoles and games

Italian police claim to have seized nearly €50m of counterfeit retro consoles and games.

According to the police, the consoles were imitations of classic Nintendo, Sega and Atari consoles, sourced from China. The devices did not meet EU technical or safety standards, it’s claimed.

The games are said to have included fakes of many popular games from the 80s and 90s, including Super Mario Bros. and Street Fighter.

Police said the seized games have been destroyed, and nine Italian nationals have been arrested and charged with trading in counterfeited goods. If found guilty, they face up to eight years in prison.

“Around 12,000 consoles on which more than 47 million pirated video games were illegally stored were seized, for an estimated value of more than 47.5 million euros ($52.5 million),” Alessandro Langella, head of the economic crime unit for Turin’s financial police, told AFP.

The figure includes the value of the consoles and hundreds of licenses for the pirated programs, according to the police.

Retro gaming has become big business in recent years, with classic games and consoles now regularly changing hands for hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

In 2021, a pristine condition copy of Super Mario 64 sold for $1.56 million, and weeks later, a copy of Super Mario Bros. sold for $2 million. However, one class-action lawsuit alleged that the prices were inflated due to “manipulating the retro video game market”.