Police in Kyoto arrested the man who sent murder threats to Nintendo back in late 2023. The culprit is a worker for the local government in the Ibaraki Prefecture. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]
For reference, Nintendo was supposed to hold several large-scale events in December 2023. These events included the Nintendo Live 2024 Tokyo, as well as the Splatoon Koushien 2023. As well, Nintendo had to stream its live concert from the Nintendo Live 2024 Tokyo to an empty audience at a later date. This was all because the arrested man in question sent in messages, threatening to murder the staff and guests.
The police have not put out a statement yet in regards to the man’s motives. At the current time, we only know that he is a man in his twenties. According to the investigation, he used the contact form on the Nintendo homepage to send multiple threatening messages. The police have also arrested him due to obstruction of business. As mentioned above, as a result of the man’s threats, Nintendo had to cancel plenty of major events.
Originally, the Nintendo Live 2024 Tokyo event would have taken place in early January 2024, whereas the Splatoon Koushien 2023 would have been earlier in December 2023. Of particular note is the Splatoon Koushien 2023 cancellation. The winner of the tournament would have become the Japanese representative for the Splatoon 3 World Championship 2024. As a result, since there was no Japanese representative who won in December 2023, the World Championship—as well as the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe online challenge finals and 2024 World Championship—has been postponed as well.
More information on the culprit, as well as his sentencing, will come out in the near future.
