Police arrested a man for illegally altering save data for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet on the Nintendo Switch, which he used to create custom characters that he sold online. The 36-year-old man, named Yoshihiro Yamakawa, is accused of using a tool to change the game saves. This lets him create special Pokémon with rare powers and unusual looks. Yamakawa then sold these on a website where people buy and trade video game items.
Police say that Yamakawa was taking orders on the website to make custom Pokémon for money. He offered deals like 6 Pokémon for $30. In the games, players try to find and train all the different Pokémon. But some are very rare or hard to level up. It seems other players really wanted these extra-strong Pokémon, as they were willing to pay real money for them!
Police caught Yamakawa doing this between December 2022 and March 2023. He made as much as $85 for each Pokémon character. Police think he earned over $100,000 total from the illegal sales. Yamakawa told officers he only did it to make a living. But police say it broke the law against unfair business practices. They are still investigating how much money he actually made.
This isn’t the first time police caught someone changing Pokémon game saves for cash. In 2021, another man was arrested for doing the same thing in Pokémon Sword and Shield. The game makers don’t allow cheating, so they work with police when people hack saves or use other unfair methods. It seems some players will always look for shortcuts, even if it means breaking rules. But police aim to protect fans and the games.
