A 27-year-old man, Takemi Kazama has admitted to the charges of sending death threats to Nintendo, resulting in significant disruptions to their business operations.
In the past year, Nintendo had to cancel several of its events due to baseless death threats made to the company and spectators of the event. Then recently in April, a suspect was arrested in the matter, and now this 27-year-old man has accepted his crimes.
Kazama, an employee of Hitachi City in Ibaraki Prefecture, sent a total of 39 threatening messages to Nintendo’s website between August 22 and November 29 of the previous year. These messages included statements such as “I will kill everyone involved. Be careful about events with spectators,” leading to the postponement and cancellation of several high-profile events. Among the impacted events were the Splatoon Koshien 2023 National Finals and Nintendo Live 2024, which were scheduled to take place in Tokyo in December 2023 and January 2024, respectively.
Now a new report from Kansai Television News has revealed that at the trial, Kazama admitted to the charges, explaining, “I sent the messages because I was stressed out over games. I got more and more irritated when I kept losing.”
Though we don’t know for sure, it is believed that Kazama’s frustration began from playing Splatoon 3, a popular multiplayer game.
The prosecution has requested a one-year prison sentence for Kazama, whose actions have caused considerable financial and reputational damage to the company. Kazama’s action has reportedly caused a total damage of approximately ¥700 million ($4.36 million). “The result is serious. There is no room for leniency for a childish motive,” the prosecution argued, reinforcing the request for a one-year prison sentence.
The final verdict in the case is expected to be handed down on July 24, when the court will decide the appropriate punishment for Kazama’s actions.
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