A 25-year-old nursing care worker has been arrested after allegedly emailing Square Enix, threatening to kill staff.
According to Livedoor News, the man is accused of sending an email on February 5 to Square Enix’s Tokyo office that read, “Hey staff tomorrow I’m going to kill you get ready [for your punishment]” [SIC].
In Japanese, the last part of the threat is “kubi arattokeyo” (首洗っとけよ), which literally means “go wash your neck.” The expression has its roots in ritualistic samurai suicide. After a samurai would disembowel himself, the kaishakunin would then slice off his head. Here, washing one’s neck refers to get ready for this ultimate punishment.
The threat caused Square Enix to beef up security. The man was finally arrested on March 29 and has confessed. “I spent over 200,000 yen ($US1,794 ($2,524)) on the game and I didn’t get the [in-game] item I wanted so I sent the email out of revenge,” he reportedly said.
As website Hamusoku points out, it sounds like the money was spent on a virtual gacha, which is akin to a loot box. Gacha items are the video game equivalent of capsule toys (called gacha–gacha in Japanese).
Last September, around thirty emails were sent to Square Enix with the word “kill” written in Japanese. Authorities are now investigating whether or not those are connected to this suspect.
Comments
5 responses to “Man Arrested After Threatening To Kill Square Enix Staff”
If you fish for whales you have to expect some blow back.
Exactly. I believe I know what game this is referring to. Sad because the game is actually incredibly generous otherwise.
These business practices need to be called for what they are, but threats on peoples lives is never ok. Saying this behaviour is expected is the dumbest form of blaming the victim in this situation!
I think he was just trying to say, if you design a game system designed to take money from people who poor impulse control, then you should expect some people to lose their shit with you. I don’t think he was condoning it at all.
It’s certainly an inappropriate response to something you chose to pour money into. But I can totally understand WHY the dude is so pissed.
Again, it’s not an appropriate response, but I do see HOW it happened.
Guarantee the game was Kingdom Hearts Union Cross. Worst monetization practices I have ever seen a mobile game.