You know Kenshin Kazama? No?! It doesn’t surprise us since his story, until a few days ago, was nothing special and was in line with the many other cases of death threats that are dotted around the video game industry.
You should know that during 2023, Nintendo has been hit with a wave of death threats which led the company to cancel several events in Japan, given that the threatening letters suggested to be careful of the public that would be present during these events.
The manager came arrested at the beginning of 2024 and it is precisely Kenshin Kazama, a 27-year-old man who confessed to his actions during the trial held on June 26, 2024.
Kazama admitted that he had sent 39 death threats between August and November 2023. Among the messages sent, some included threats such as: “I will kill everyone involved. Be careful at events with spectators”, thus forcing Nintendo to cancel a series of events to ensure the safety of participants.
However, the reasons that led Kazama to make this reckless gesture are the true madness of this whole story. Kenshin, in fact, candidly justified his actions by claiming that he is It’s all the frustration I got from losing at Splatoon 3. “The more I lost, the more I hated Nintendo, which is why I started venting my anger by sending them those messages.”
Of course, we don’t know if there were other motivations behind Kazama’s actions, but his actions caused damage to an amount of 700 million yen (equal to approximately 4 million euros) and since his confession did not move from what he declared in court, the prosecution underlined the gravity of the situation, describing Kazama’s motivation as childish and unacceptable.
For these reasons, the prosecution requested a prison sentence of at least one year, deeming it necessary to impose it an exemplary punishment that can make the accused, and anyone who decides to act in a similar manner, understand the seriousness of his actions. The final verdict is expected on July 24, 2024.
