Nintendo death threats suspect charged by Japanese police

The man arrested for sending death threats to Nintendo – which resulted in the cancellation of Nintendo Live Tokyo earlier this year – has reportedly been charged by Japanese police.

As reported by Japanese newspaper Kyoto Shimbun (thanks VGC), the 27-year-old man, a resident of Hitachi city in Japan's Ibaraki Prefecture, has been charged with the forcible obstruction of business after sending 39 threats using the inquiry form on Nintendo's website.

Kyoto Shimbun (via Google Translate) says the unnamed man wrote the threats between 22nd August and 29th November last year, sending messages including, “I'm going to make you regret releasing such a crappy game to the world” and “I'm going to kill everyone involved.”

After receiving the messages – which, as Kyoto Shimbun previously reported, included a direct threat to “kill the people at the venue” if Nintendo held its Splatoon Koshien 2023 National Finals in December – the company made the decision to cancel both the Splatoon event and Nintendo Live Tokyo, which had been scheduled to run January 20th-21st this year.

At the time, Nintendo said it had “been persistently receiving threatening behavior targeting our staff” that had recently “extended to the audience and staff of the Splatoon Koshien 2023 National Finals.” As such, it would cancel the events to “ensure the safety of our customers.”