MILAN, Sept 13 (Askume) – Italian tax police said on Friday they had seized nearly 50 million euros ($55.5 million) worth of counterfeit Chinese vintage consoles and video games from the 1980s and 1990s.
New versions of popular video games and consoles from decades ago have recently been re-released, a phenomenon known as “retro gaming”.
The tax and customs police of the Financial Guard in the northwestern city of Turin said in a statement that they had seized nearly 12,000 gaming machines in several Italian provinces since the end of 2023. ”.
Police said the consoles contained more than 47 million pirated copies of old video games, lacked proper EU-mandated health and safety labels and were equipped with uncertified batteries and circuits.
They are sold in shopping malls, online marketplaces, and on Italian company websites.
Nine people, all Italian citizens, were investigated for various crimes relating to fraudulent transactions and copyright infringement, and all confiscated video games were destroyed.
(1 USD = 0.9016 EUR)
