We’ve all gotten a bit upset before over trivial, minor things, especially video games. It can be said though that in many cases that people will simply take things too far, as seen with the infamous “swatting” practice that can arise over something as simple as dispute over a match of Call of Duty, which involves calling the police on someone under false pretenses, or harassing and threatening developers over the state of a game as did happen to DICE devs over Battlefield 2042 a few years ago. There is never an excuse for any of these behaviors, no matter the quality of a game or your interactions with other players.
One 27-year old man in Japan recently however took things too far recently when he allegedly sent enveloped messages to the Nintendo HQ in Kyoto, threatening the studio with “I’m going to blow you all up” and “My plans cannot be thwarted”, even claiming he had already planted multiple explosives across the Nintendo HQ. Following these threats, the police were called and investigated the building for explosives, fortunately finding none.
This isn’t even the first time Nintendo has received such threats, with another 27-year old man in 2024 sending over 39 violent threats through the inquiry form on Nintendo’s website, taking place over the span of three months. The same man said “I’ll make you regret bringing such shitty game into this world”, possibly referring to Splatoon 3, and that he’d “kill everyone involved”, and even implied causing harm on eventgoers, saying “be careful about events that have spectators in attendance”- this ultimately led to cancellation of the Splatoon Finals and Nintendo Live 2024. Even as far back as 2012, yet another 27-year old man threatened Nintendo with violence, issuing a bomb threat via a computer virus which gave him remote PC access.
Being a game developer is no easy job, and besides burnout from long and harsh hours including crunch, one has to contend with angry and frustrated communities of players who don’t understand the work that goes into making a game. Toxicity in the gaming community is massive problem, harming not just developers but marginalized communities trying to find a place in gaming spaces. It is clear that the issue isn’t the quality of games, but the reactions stemming from poor attitudes and entitlement that can be found among so many gamers.