Between August and November last year, 27-year-old Kenshin Kazama from Hitachi City, Japan, sent 39 threatening letters to Nintendo. The threats, which were submitted via Nintendo’s online feedback form, included: “[be] careful about events that have spectators in attendance” and “I’ll make you regret bringing such a s****y game into this world […]” However, it is unclear which game was referred to in that case.
Regarding the motive, Japanese news organisation NHK wrote that Judge Hiroshi Kawakami of the Kyoto District Court stated: “the defendant became frustrated by his continued losses in online matches of Nintendo games, and committed the crime to relieve his stress.”
Of course, sending threats to relieve stress is not a constructive way to deal with one’s emotions, and the consequences for Nintendo were that they had to postpone Nintendo Live 2024 and Splatoon Koshien 2023 National Finals to ensure everyone’s safety. Now, however, Kazama has been sentenced, and he’ll be stuck behind bars for the next year.