Japanese authorities have taken a 27-year-old man into custody following a series of alarming threats directed at Nintendo’s corporate headquarters in Kyoto. The suspect, who is currently unemployed, reportedly sent correspondence to the company explicitly threatening to detonate explosives on their premises.
According to reports from KTV News, the individual was apprehended on charges of obstructing business operations. While Nintendo initially alerted law enforcement to the threats back in March 2026, subsequent police sweeps of the facility yielded no evidence of any explosive devices. The suspect has since confessed to the allegations.
The mailed threats contained intimidating language, with the perpetrator claiming to have positioned dangerous items throughout the Nintendo campus, stating, “My plans cannot be thwarted.”
This incident is part of a troubling pattern of harassment Nintendo has endured in recent years. In 2024, the company was forced to cancel multiple events due to security concerns involving threats against both staff and fans. That wave of hostility resulted in the arrest of another 27-year-old man, who admitted to submitting 39 separate messages via the company’s online portal. In those messages, he infamously declared that no level of security would prevent harm from coming to people.
The individual was eventually sentenced to one year in prison, with the presiding judge characterizing his behavior as “selfish” and “malicious.” During the proceedings, a Nintendo representative provided a victim impact statement, detailing the profound fear these threats instilled in the workforce.
History repeats itself, as this follows a similar case from 2012, in which another 27-year-old suspect issued bomb threats against the publisher after gaining unauthorized remote access to a company PC via a virus.
While the investigation into the most recent incident is ongoing, authorities have yet to identify a clear motive behind the threats.
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Source: Polygon
