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Kyoto Police Arrests Man in 20s for Nintendo Threat Messages Incident from 2023

The Kyoto Prefectural Police's First Investigative Division has arrested on Wednesday a man in his 20s, a civil servant from Ibaraki Prefecture, on suspicion of forcibly obstructing business operations, after allegedly sending several threatening messages to Nintendo last year.

According to investigators, the man is suspected of sending multiple messages threatening to kill people in Nintendo, through the inquiry form of the company's website from August 22 to November 29.

In December last year, Nintendo announced the delay of the "Splatoon Koshien 2023 National Finals" tournament and the cancelation of the "Nintendo Live 2024 Tokyo" event due to threats that have been made targeting the company's employees, as well as threats towards the tournament staff and spectators.

The Splatoon Koshien 2023 National Finals was scheduled to take place on December 16-17 at the Ota City General Gymnasium. The Nintendo Live 2024 Tokyo Event was scheduled for January 20-21 and would have hosted the "Splatoon 3 World Championship 2024" tournament, as well as the "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Online Challenge Final Stage" and "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe World Championship 2024" tournaments. All three tournaments have been postponed.

Nintendo will host the "Splatoon World Championship 2024" tournament and "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe World Championship 2024" tournament on April 13 and April 14 in Japan.

Sources: Kyoto Shimbun, Yahoo! Japan News via Hachima Kiko