The 27-year-old man, who was charged by the Kyoto District Prosecutor’s Office, lives in the city of Hitachi in the Ibaraki district of Japan, so he may have already regretted threatening the big N, because the company had to cancel several events because of him.
The Kyoto Shimbun, a Japanese daily newspaper, reported that the 27-year-old submitted a total of 39 threats through an interest form on Nintendo’s official website between August 22 and November 29. So approx. he wrote a “pleasant tone” message to the Japanese company every three days. Among his threats, for example, was one such as “I will make you regret ever bringing such a s_r game into the world”, although it is not known here exactly which one he might have meant. He also threatened to kill anyone involved, and the most important quote for us, “be careful at events where there are visitors.”
Nintendo decided to cancel the Splatoon Koshien 2023 National Finals and Nintendo Live 2024 because, according to the company, it could not adequately ensure the safety of its consumers. The Japanese company would have held the former in Tokyo’s Ota Sogo Gymnasium building on December 16 and 17, while the latter would have been held in Tokyo’s Big Sight exhibition center on January 20 and 21. The Splatoon 3 World Championship and the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe World Championship scheduled for Nintendo Live 2024 were filled in during April.
In 2022, Nintendo Live returned to Japan after the pandemic, and the Japanese company’s fan festival was such a great success that the big N finally launched it elsewhere. Nintendo Live 2023 was already present in the United States, as the company held it in Seattle last September. There were several Nintendo Switch games to try out here, but there were also live performances, tournaments, photo opportunities, and other activities to do. When will Nintendo do something like this in Europe?
So, almost three weeks after his arrest, he was charged…
Source: VGC, Kyoto Shimbun
