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Government official suspected of sending bomb threats to Nintendo arrested

Nintendo LIVE 2024 Tokyo was canceled due to multiple death threats and bomb threats sent by the alleged suspect, a local public servant in Japan.

TJ Denzer

April 3, 2024 1:40 PM

Image via Nintendo

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A suspect in Japan has been arrested this week in regards to bomb and death threats sent to Nintendo for several months. The suspect is a male in his 20s who is said to have sent around 39 separate threats to the company which disrupted Nintendo’s business and forced it to cancel events. He was also said to have been a local government official in the Ibaraki Prefecture.

Word of the man’s arrest was reported by Japanese gaming outlet 4Gamer, as well as shared by Twitter user OatmealDome. According to the details as we know them now, the suspect is said to have begun targeting Nintendo as early as late 2023, sending bomb threats to Nintendo, as well as separate threats of violence. A total of 39 threats were tallied before the man’s arrest. Authorities have not yet revealed the suspect’s identity and no reason for the threats has been reported at this time.

One thing is certain: the suspect’s activities were most certainly disruptive. Over the course of the targeting period, Nintendo was forced to cancel and postpone certain events to maintain the safety of employees and fans. That included the Nintendo LIVE 2024 Tokyo event which was scheduled to take place in January 2024. Unfortunately, that also left the 2023 World Championships for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Splatoon 3, which were set to take place at Nintendo LIVE 2024, up in the air.

With the arrest of this suspect in the bombing threats against Nintendo, hopefully employees and fans can breath a sigh of relief. In the meantime, stay tuned for more updates and details on this story and the arrested suspect.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.