Italian Financial Police announced on Friday (September 13) that they have dismantled a gang smuggling counterfeit retro electronic game consoles from China, containing some of the most popular games from the 1980s and 1990s.
In a statement released by the Turin Provincial Financial Police Department (Guardia di Finanza) on Friday, they stated, “Under the coordination of the Turin judiciary, the Turin Provincial Financial Police Department has carried out a specific investigation to combat the phenomenon of counterfeiting and piracy of copyrighted works.”
The statement mentioned that the Turin Financial Police Department conducted an operation named “Coin-Up 80,” targeting game consoles sold nationwide, preloaded with millions of “pirated” electronic games from world-renowned software companies.
From the end of 2023 to the present year, the Turin judiciary conducted extensive search operations nationwide. According to reports from Agence France-Presse, the head of the department, Alessandro Langella, said, “We seized about 12,000 consoles illegally storing over 47 million pirated video games, estimated to be worth over 47.5 million euros (52.5 million dollars).”
This figure includes the value of the game consoles and licenses for hundreds of pirated games. Police stated that the seized game consoles all originated from China.
These games included “Super Mario Bros,” “Street Fighter,” and “Star Wars,” while the consoles imitated products from companies like Nintendo, Sega, and Atari.
Langella mentioned that games from the 80s and 90s are gaining renewed attention in the so-called “retro gaming” trend, which is currently experiencing a strong phase of popularity and commercial expansion.
These game consoles, which do not meet EU technical and safety standards, were imported from China to Italy and sold in physical stores or on websites like Amazon. It was through the assistance of these websites that the criminal gang was apprehended.
Nine Italians have been arrested, accused of engaging in the trafficking of counterfeit goods, and could face up to 8 years in prison.