Nintendo has won their latest case, and we think everyone will be on Nintendo’s side for this one.
As we had reported previously, authorities caught a man in his 20s, who sent Nintendo employees 39 different bomb threats and death threats. When he was made to testify in court, the suspect gave puzzling explanations, claiming that he got upset over losing over and over in Splatoon 3.
As shared by OatmealDome on Twitter, that suspect has now been successfully convicted. His sentence was for four years, but it has been suspended to only one year in prison. As is the case in other countries, this suspended sentence means that the suspect will serve probation for now, and depending on his behavior in that time, the judge may choose to enforce or dismiss jail time.
In spite of appearances, the judge did not seem to be that sympathetic to the suspect. The judge referred to his motives as selfish, and his crimes as persistent and malicious.
What’s perhaps truly upsetting is the statement given by one of the threatened Nintendo employees in court. They said that these threats reminded them of the Kyoto Animation attack, which is one of the deadliest incidents in modern Japanese history.
We had alluded to the similarities between the two incidents before, but it seems necessary to get into it in more detail now. Kyoto Animation had become popular in the 2010s for making anime in lighthearted genres, such as K-On!, Free Iwatobi Swim Club, Lucky Star, and Sound Euphonium.
Like Nintendo, they were very closely associated with child friendly media, and they were so successful that there was high demand from fans who desperately wanted to join the company. Kyoto also had a disgruntled fan who claimed that the company was ignoring their submissions for potential ideas for future anime and light novels.
In 2019, the suspect started a fire in Kyoto Animation’s building, and the fire became unexpectedly deadly. 36 of Kyoto Animation’s employees passed away, and 34 were seriously injured, as a result of the fire.
So there was a real fear that a similar incident could have happened to Nintendo employees. It seems that the only reason the judge could be lenient was that the suspect was caught before he could make good on any of his threats.
We don’t know the full details of the sentence, but hopefully it serves is an effective deterrent to discourage other toxic fans to attempt similar incidents in Japan in the future. You don’t need to be a fan of companies like Nintendo or Kyoto Animation to wish that such senseless attacks don’t happen to them or their employees.
