Japanese man arrested for Pokemon Sword and Shield hacks

Gotta catch 'em all, I guess.

A Japanese man has been arrested and charged for making and selling hacks for Pokemon Sword and Shield.

As reported by local media outlet Asahi – and spotted by ResetEra – the 23-year-old man reportedly found a way to modify and illegally rewrite save data in order to get shiny Pokemon. They sold a Sobble to a 36-year-old Kyoto man after modifying save data on a PC. As of November 2020, he had apparently made ¥1.15 million (roughly $10,000) from doing this.

All of this might sound a bit extreme, but in 2019 Japan introduced legislation that made it illegal to modify a game's save data. Earlier this year, The Pokemon Company said that it was introducing sanctions for users who illegally modify Pokemon Sword and Shield save data.

"We have confirmed that some users are playing Pokemon Sword Shield and Pokemon Home using illegally modified data," the company said.

"In addition, we will take the following measures for users who are deemed inappropriate in terms of operation, such as causing problems with the operation of software and applications or causing inconvenience to other users."

It continued: "In the future, we will continue to take similar measures on a regular basis and may implement further restriction measures without prior notice.

"We will regularly monitor and respond to fraudulent and annoying acts so that our users can enjoy themselves with peace of mind. We look forward to your continued support of the Pokemon series."