Nintendo Live Threat Culprit Sentenced To One Year In Prison

Image: Nintendo

The man charged with sending threats to Nintendo, leading to the cancellation of Tokyo's Nintendo Live event earlier this year, has been sentenced to one year in prison following a court ruling (thanks, Splatoon Torikara & Nintendo Everything).

The 27-year-old individual admitted to his crimes last month, blaming his increased frustration at losing Splatoon 3 matches. In the 39 threats submitted through Nintendo's official enquiry forms between 22nd April and 29th November 2023, the man threatened to "kill everyone involved" in the creation of the game and warned the company to "be careful about events that have spectators in attendance".

A statement from a Nintendo employee was read out at this week's court ruling in which they confessed to being "terrified" by the threats as it reminded them of the 2019 Kyoto animation arson attack — in which 36 people died after the culprit had sent similarly threatening letters.

Concluding the Nintendo Live threat case, the judge's verdict (translated on Twitter by @OatmealDome) described the culprit's actions as "selfish" and how he committed the crime as "persistent and malicious". He was subsequently sentenced to one year in prison with a four-year suspension.

The Splatoon 3 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe World Championships (initially set to take place at Nintendo Live Tokyo) were rescheduled for April. Nintendo has since stripped the winners of the Splatoon tournament following evidence of racist behaviour from "certain members of team Jackpot".