Italy Busts Ring Trafficking Retro Video Games From China

Italy's financial police said Friday they have dismantled a ring trafficking counterfeit vintage video game consoles from China containing some of the most popular titles of the 1980s and 90s.

"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.

The games included Mario Bros., Street Fighter and Star Wars, and the consoles imitated Nintendo, Sega and Atari franchises in particular.

Games from the 1980s and 1990s are enjoying a resurgence as part of the so-called "retrogaming" trend, "which is experiencing a phase of strong popularity and commercial expansion," Langella said.

The consoles, which did not meet European technical and safety standards, were imported from China to be sold in specialised stores or online, on sites such as Amazon, which helped the police with their investigation.

Police arrested nine Italians who are being charged with trading in counterfeited goods and risk up to eight years in prison.