Danica Davidson
April 26, 2024 
Last year someone sent a slew of nasty, threatening messages to Nintendo, and as a result Nintendo called off some events out of safety concerns. Now police have announced that they believe they have the culprit. Beyond the threats, the man is in trouble for “forcibly obstructing business operations.”
The culprit, who is not named, is a 27-year-old man in the Ibaraki Prefecture who works as a civil servant. First the man was arrested on April 3, and now he has been officially indicted by the Kyoto Prefectural Police. However, there’s still a lot we in the public don’t know yet about the situation, besides just the lack of a name. Reports do not say if the man has confessed, proclaimed innocence, or said anything at all. The reports also did not say what evidence the police have against him.
Between August 22 and November 29, 2023, the man allegedly used the inquiry form on Nintendo’s website to send 39 messages. And these weren’t the usual messages a person might send — instead, they were threats to murder Nintendo employees and others, such as people attending or working at Nintendo events.
Taking these threats seriously, Nintendo decided to call off its Splatoon Koshien 2023 National Finals tournament, and its Nintendo Live 2024 Tokyo event, at least for the time being.
The Splatoon Koshien 2023 National Finals tournament, located in Ota City, was originally on the books for December 16-17, 2023. The Nintendo Live 2024 Tokyo Event, meanwhile, was meant to occur January 20-21. It was meant to have three big tournaments: the Splatoon 3 World Championship 2024 tournament, the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Online Challenge Final Stage tournament, and the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe World Championship 2024 tournament.
Following the suspect’s arrest, Nintendo went ahead with the Splatoon World Championship 2024 tournament on April 13, then the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe World Championship 2024 tournament on April 14.
Source: ANN
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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