The man ARRESTED for threatening a game developer
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 มี.ค. 2022
- In 2022, one man sent multiple threatening emails to SEGA over the course of 2 months. Here's the story of why he sent those emails and how he was caught by Japanese police.
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- www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...
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- • Phantasy Star Online 2... (Phantasy Star Online footage via creative commons) - เกม
The Kyoto Animations (KyoAni) arson attack was really bad. 36 people died, 34 people were injured (they all recovered, 27 went back to work at KyoAni), making it one of the most deadliest massacres in Japan after WW2. It only makes sense that after that attack, Japan will take any threats much more seriously. It's been 2 years since then (man i thought it was only like 6 months ago time flies), and they guy still hasn't been sentenced yet but it will probably be a death sentence (chance that it will be life imprisonment because the guy has a history of mental illness).
This guy was really stupid doing that on his phone, especially after the KyoAni attack. What did he think would've happened?
It's good thing that sega took this matter seriously before it got worse ..
There are people who are responsible / lucky enough that they don't rage quit, people who rage quit quietly, people who go like AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA huff huff AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA when they rage quit, and then there is this...
Good thing he was a dumb*ss
Also f*ck man.. I'm still sad about the KyoAni fire
They are one of the few Anime studios that I could stomach to watch and respect
bruh he probs shoulda just used an internet cafe as suggested with like a Temp email site lol!
How do you know so much about that?
This takes rage quitting to a *whole* new level
Bruh
He died to a spike trap in sonic the hedgehog
@@admiralAlfonso9001 indeed pal
yep
Damn right this is serious
I’m glad that nobody was hurt and he didn’t actually “set fire to the company and kill the employees.”
Yes. HE'S DANGEROUS DON'T GO TO JAPAN!!!!!!!!!!!
You just can’t get away with stuff like this in today’s society anymore. Well, unless there on Twitter, but even then it’s pretty clear that sending threats is a stupid as hell idea.
Hey...I like halloween. Take it back.
And also threats.
@@ItIsYouAreNotYour lol
Too right.
You can if you take enough of them with you...just look at tyrannical dictators, gangs, drug cartels, criminal syndicates, terrorist groups, cultists, special interest groups, and the LGBT community, racist pigs, sexist pigs, and the people that promote the culling of physically, mentally, and developmentally disabled people, the elderly, the unborn, and all of humankind in general.
Rest in peace to the 36 that died due to the Kyoto Animation arson attack.
Roast in Piece
They deserved it for not animating fast enough
@@Determinator21
*whip sound*
@@Determinator21 animating are hard it's not easy and hard work I kinda hate anime but I know their passion and killing 36 people are insane just because you cannot wait for an episode
@@Determinator21 he killed them because he felt they were plagarizing his work that he submitted to a competition they were holding. ironically, it didnt get past even the first sweep so they didnt know anything, and the things he thought was copied were generic anime tropes.
I’m glad Sega actually took his threats seriously. It’s sad just how many companies actually don’t take threats seriously.
That’s because threats are from clowns
@@myang12003 among the countless clowns there is always Pennywise hiding 🎈🤡 🔪
And a Joker. 🃏
I believe that Watanabe will be taken to either prison or jail, because threats didn't killed anyone but did damaged them. If it's something worse like hijacking, genocide, manslaughter or something worse then he could get a life or death sentence. And I agree that he should not go to jail, but take some therapy, because there's many people out there that have mental diseases, we can't stigmatize them, because that would just feed their illness becoming worse in their condition. I hope Watanabe is fine and doesn't commit the same crime, twice.
I think mental health care is the better course of action, punishing people doesn't really stop crime. Like sure, you'll always have that person who will do messed up things no matter what you do but that isn't an excuse to at least see what else is going on in Akira's life. Because I'm going to go on a limb and say, this isn't really about video games.
Eh I can see that, but he knew it was wrong none the less and he didn’t learn after 1 time that it was wrong not to mention the other 11 times and if he didn’t get caught I’m sure he still wouldn’t have stopped, I do believe everyone deserves a second chance however and he did say it out of anger so I’ll let it slide in my head, however I wouldn’t be surprised if he did it again
Lock him up forever
Some people are not able to participate in society.
i agree with you noire.
@@supermariokyle6835 yeah, but thats why he needs help. people who do this are very clearly not mentally well. putting him in jail could make his issues worse.
I always fear some video game company would get some violent threat over something and that said threat would be done, and this is downright horrifying yet petty. Didn't think Sega would be the one to get it.
We don't want another KyoAni incident.
*Nintendo*
@@mr.junior7880 Oh yeah, Nintendo got a couple threats before like that bomb threat at Nintendo World and the guns found in that one Pokemon event.
Thankfully, said acts weren't committed, and I believe the criminals were arrested before it can happen.
No direct violent threat to the company itself yet, however. At least one that's infamous like this one against Sega.
You know, I'm usually against conpanies overreacting to shit posts (I've sometimes been sent death and doxx threats OL before, I just ignore them), but _sending the same stuff 12 times in a row?_ I can understand why the company got really worried and the police got involved.
Knowing how cruel the prison system in Japan is (98% conviction rate will never equal 98% fairness), all I can say is: Good luck, *he's going to need it.*
Wow, 12 emails. What did he think was going to eventually happen?
yeah i could seriously see myself sending a threat email as a joke after getting mad at a game, but sending multiple is kinda crazy. honestly though, i dont think he should go to jail, i think he learned his lesson.
not to mention the kyoto animations arson attack was the biggest, deadliest massacres in japan since world war 2. 36 died, 34 were injured.
This reminds me of what happened to Kyoto Animation and I can’t believe people would do stuff like this my heart goes out to whoever gets hurt by these acts
You know, sometimes you get a _bit_ too hyped, and get arrested for threatening to blow up Sega headquarters. Happens to us all.
Yeah like the time i threatened to blow up the world trade center in the year 2000
Happens to the best of us.
This is the comment I came here to read! Thumbs up! 👍
Poor Sega, they don't deserve this type of hate! Even if I'm not crazy about Sega.
Exactly. I've played like 2 Sonic games and that's my entire experience with Saga. This story still angered me so much. I don't know how anyone could see what happened to Kyoto Animations and think it's ok to make these threats
At least Sega doesn't took down game mods, fan game , Sega ROM etc. Unlikely how Nintendo treat to their fans
@@katsimpsforleviathan This is Japan after all one manga author export CP from Germany and he got exposed , at the end his manga got cancelled and he sent 2 years of prison also one of judgement game actor got arrested in illegal activity then sega stop sells of judgement in Japan then Later they recast another actor in English version release...
They do, though. All companies who do that do.
I have not played a single sega game only nintendo
I myself would rather just lose a game, scream at the top of my lungs about it for an hour, and listen to fun music as I play "a better game"
Like, despite what I might say to myself or in a voice call with two or so others, I make it clear I don't actually wanna do awful things. I especially don't do it consistently. I think adding blatant humor or like, reasonable thoughts would help. I don't know if I should, but I kinda feel sorry for this guy. I know he's not the only person out there who rages at games and might be mentally unstable. I should know, I'm often both. I don't wanna end up like this, and I can't imagine how terrifying it was for all parties...
Oh my gosh! This reminds me of the incident that happened with kyoto animation back in 2019 😨 thank goodness they caught the guy to not let a similar incident happen ever again because oh my gosh that was terrible
Yeah , Pretty much same pattern here it's good thing that they took this matter seriously
I mean yeah, he *did* mention it IN the video
Did you even watch the video more then halfway through?
@@Inksploded yes I've already seen the whole video although I admit that I did the comment before I got to the part he mentioned it so yeah 😅 sorry about that
Aside from the Yakuza, I thought Japan's almost entirely crime-free.
Well something similar Already happened someone burned down Kyoto animation like 2 years ago so can't blame them for taking this too seriously
I agree that sega isn’t the best company out there but they don’t deserve to be threatened like this
Heck they shouldn’t be threatened at all you should never threaten someone over something as harmless as losing to an online video game like sheesh
In Japan, if you are arrested, you are guilty. Even if you are innocent. It is a bad system
Indeed
Somehow they still manage to throw less people in prison than americans.
Not as corrupted as the usa’s.
Sadly I’m not that surprised. Some people have no control of their emotions when it comes to video games. My estranged brother would go on cussing fits and throw stuff when something didn’t go his way. I felt so bad for his dogs who would run to the other side of the house and shake nonstop out of fear.
@Burst Gaming its okay unless ur constantly putting friends , family or even pets to ur anger leaving them to shake non stop is crossing the line
@Burst Gaming yea i know i was just saying it was not ok in that case since he was hurting his dogs
As a kid.... A KID, I used to sometimes get angry at video games and cry or have a tantrum but like that was it. And I will say it again, I was a child. I don't think I have got angry at a game since I was like 12 at the most and even if I have, it is nothing more than mild fustration. They are meant to be fun, I don't know why if you are suseptible to extreme anger you would be playing video games. Clearly this guy has something else going on in his life because that is just way too much.
You would IF you were more emotionally invested in them. When a person has nothing going in real life, escapism is serious business.
@@EmeraldEyesEsoteric I don't think being emotionally invested in a game has to correlate with nothing going on in my life.
I am not depressed and I do have things going on in my life but I would also say I am emotionally invested in a lot of games but I channel that energy positively. There was a time in late 2020 where I was in a bit of a bad place and felt so unmotivated to do anything and I played video games to escape. I played some really hard games, the original Metroid, Celeste and some others and if you have played those you would know they are hard. So yes, I got a little fustrated but not angry and it never stopped me having fun.
Also keep in mind this was not just one angry letter. These were 12 different e-mails sent across the span of 2 months. The dude had way more than enough time to calm down.
@@benedani9580 Exactly. It seemed like he had nothing else going on in his life and he vented his anger the wrong way. He needs some serious help.
Now this is what you call a *heated* gaming moment
dame
I meant same
Yeah, I'd say he was on *fire* , but well, he lost. But MAN, did he want to go *scorched earth* over just one loss!
Bro this is crazy hope all the employees and everyone at SEGA is ok, and Sonic good grief
Yes sonic good grief. And your buddy Tails too.
Genuinely shocked this doesn't have a lot of views. Even if it's a little different it's a crazy topic and I hope everyone involved can find themselves in a better place
It's always a good day when Thomas uploads
Yeah
54 Years Old. WTF?!
Adults are just children that have been alive for a while.
@@xenos_n. facts
@@xenos_n. ohmahgahd
Phineas Flint: "Isn't he too old to play online gaming?"
I’ve been watching all your videos lately, great channel ! Keep up the good work!
Japan has a high conviction rate due to how they do interrogations and that they can hold suspects and such for a long time without a lawyer even being present. Most convictions, to my knowledge, were usually based on the "confessions" the police get out of the suspects during interrogation. By the sounds of it, they seem to mentally wear them down. When living over there, I was really curious about this, but I still couldn't get a way to verify or even clarify if this was definitely the case.
Of course for this particular case with Watanabe, given that he confessed and all that, he probably will be found guilty.
I'm also still so-so on the mental health thing. I moved back home in 2018, but lived in Japan from 2010 - 2011, then again from 2012 - 2018. During that time, mental health seemed to be kind of a taboo subject and not spoken about all that much. I'm not sure if it's any better now, though. Maybe cases like this one can help bring more awareness. I now wonder if anything came of that case with the teen girl who decapitated one of her classmates and kept the corpse in her apartment (which her family was paying for, iirc). That happened while I was still over there, but when talking about things that happened prior to that, the signs were there of how that girl needed mental help.
Psychopathy is lot rarer than fits of schisotypical behavior, watanabe was mentally ill and I hope the mental health is taken seriously mental health in a pandemic is key.
I admit, I have anger issues, BUT THIS IS INSANE!
"I will destroy the Krusty Krab"
But serious.
and here I am sweating through my clothes because I had to send a reminder email asking for a response to a previous email
oh this is RECENT 😳
Sega should have responded with”lol git gud scrub”
R.i.p 30 employees of Kyoto animation
Sega's console legacy had died and trying to kill the company is so messed up that Satan will not even let him enter
Fascinating Thomas!
Guy was probably mad his sonic fanfiction can't be canon
Making an example out of people who threaten seems a bit misguided, if anything, it just pushes those who would act to act with no warning. Threats beforehand give the police and victim a chance to ready up, tighten security and such. Silencing the threat doesn't really stop someone who's gonna burn down a building anyway, it just makes them think 'better not make a threat, I'll get caught before I can act.'
Better to quietly figure out who made the threats and watch them, catch them in the act of setting up to do something instead of making a huge show of punishing over a threat. This feels like a reactionary tactic to win back the public after failing to act on the previous arsen to me. More security theater than security, if they can stop death threats it's something to show off to the media, versus keeping quiet and using threats to find those panning to act and stopping them before they do.
Often actual security is very invisible, it works better that way. But it doesn't win police brownie points with the media.
A problem that is quite large in Japan, is that there are bitter and suicidal people take to violence in order to procure "suicide by murder".
This is the unfortunate consequence of having the death sentence here.
This is a reason behind a lot of arson and knife attacks here unfortunately.
More needs to be done here about helping people from developing mental health issues and keeping people healthy, body, mind, and soul.
Terrible.
We have the same thing in the US except those bitter suicidal loners have very easy access to guns.
I don't know why but I feel calm every single time I watch one of his videos
same
The juxtaposition with the rageful content is ironic
You watched this video about threatening to *murder* people, in a manner that did kill as many as have been killed in Japan in one attack since WWII, and you felt... calm. Very normal.
It's his voice
@@esmeholden1747 to be honest, you seem like you're overreacting.
possibly the scariest content ive seen you cover on this channel! i’ll watch anything narrated by you though haha
Good freaking grief it's a video game company they ain't hurting anyone, but are wallets.
Exactly like dude needs to get a life
Using your own phone, or your home internet connection for illegal things is just dumb
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back! Get mad! I don't want your damn lemons, what the hell am I supposed to do with these? Demand to see life's manager! Make life rue the day it thought it could give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I'm the man who's gonna burn your house down! With the lemons! I'm gonna get my engineers to invent a combustible lemon that burns your house down!"
- Cave Johnson, Sega fan
Is there a leading theory as to what game he could've been playing?
The video shows Phantasy Star Online 2, some random weeb game. Does Sega have any other similar online games? Too lazy to check lmao
@@benedani9580 they do have sonic force runner
Smt imagine
But smt imagine is shut down in 2014
Man ragequitted so hard he threatened to burn down sonic's company(SEGA)
Just because he lost to a genshin impact type game
I know the feeling of losing to some toxic 8 year old but wanting to commit arson is just mental
I don't watch this channel often but today I got a surprise: a 15-second ad turned into the video itself. Loved that.
The thumbnail for this video showed the title as "The man ARRESTED for threatening a game..." I don't know what I expected from that. XD
I've heard similar stories of gamers making death threats against developers if they release another game in a franchise that they don't like. In my opinion the only "therapy" people who take games that seriously is to grow up and get a real life.
Dude this is literally OfficeSpace
Sonic: YOUR GOING TO DO WHAT TO ME???
When you get stuck in the spikes in sonic 1 and the invincible frames don’t care and you die:
Thank you for uploding on my birthday!
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday!
It's not your birthday
So I went from watching about Nintendo making a game about Google to this video, funny how things work out
Y e a h
If one gets so angry at losing a game, they should not play such games.
Therapy only works if the patient actually wants to accept the help and want to get better.
Having known a couple of pathetic gamers who take a medium of entertainment way too seriously, they don't want help. They want an echo chamber and feel personally attacked when someone tries to help or even give advice on how to play a game better.
While I do not agree with some of japanese justice system. The behaviour of threatening others is unacceptable, regardless of where one's mental state is.
I couldn’t believe this happened. It is on called for this guy to do that. There is no need for him to do threaten that
What a psycho!
You know the rage took full control of him he couldn't even think of the consequences.
This happen this year recently this month, this should appear in the news in the United States talking about the news in Japan. This is top news from Japan
You can get angery on Sega whatever you the way you want, but THIS one will certainly be a ticket to your prison.
Ohh this was a particularly interesting one!
your videos are addicting
Everyone if you ever get mad at a game please just turn of the console and go take a nap or something instead of making threats and stuff
Darkest of your videos I’ve seen since you told me Donkey Kong was gonna have a GUN!
I get really mad at games but not to the point he went. That’s insane. If you truly feel that way then keep it to yourself, you’re helping yourself and keeping yourself and others safe, no one likes living in danger.
6:27 is that ace attorney music I think it is
I am so glad they found him before he did anything.sonic is one of my favourite characters
"He had a horrible dark obsession"
Maybe he was just some dumb guy messing around cause he was mad unaware of the consequences
You make it sound like he's some evil psychopath.
He threatened to murder people?
@@Greg_176 I highly doubt he was actually gonna murder them buddy. People say far worse things when they're mad at a game.
@@nightwatch3889 but do they send constant emails threatening to kill people for months?
0:34 *oh no my headwaters how could they!!1!11 at least it’s not my **_headquarters_** but my HEADWATERRRRRR*
SEGA is home to one of my all time favorite games EVER... I am SHOCKED to hear about this, even a year later... That guy really took rage quitting, WAY TOO FAR!
my my i wonder what level of anger he was in when he sent those threats. poor guy
U upload a video after my Birthday thanks
You're not a true gamer until your rage so hard you threaten to burn down a company headquarters
POV:Me when I die to the final boss in any sonic game
Dang that's crazy man omg
I worked as a GM for World of Warcraft when it came out, and these kinds of threats were pretty common, to the point we had a policy. Generally warning the customer our policy was to immediately contact law enforcement shut them down pretty quick... but occasionally, they would persist and law enforcement would be contacted.
When the nuber 30 was mentioned i thought it was going to be 30 injured no wonder these threats were taken so seriously
i actually just finished a tgd vid, but this one popped up so now i have another one to watch!
Dude same!
when i discovered that there was a fire at kyoani's hq. i was shocked at the effects it caused when watching videos about this topic.
the 36 people who died will be missed.
if this fire would've happened. it would be worse. since sega has 3,238 employees as of 2020.
It's very much night and day comparing Japan's handling of this stuff to America. It feels like the US handles justice more poorly than in Japan. After such horrific attack, you're actively asking to be hunted down if you want to do stuff like this over there!
I think this might be why Japan has a lower crime right that the US
Sega has already ruined itself enough, this guy is stupid for thinking he's going to do something that hasn't been done already. It's a terribly managed company that shouldn't even exist.
Wow that's crazy
This is what you call
*rage mode*
Damn, Japan doesn't mess around.
Hi Tom! Just wanted to let you know i got married on Friday! Love your videos!
nice
Cool!!
omg congrats!!! that's awesome! 🎉🎉🎉
Noice
Not exactly a threat to take lightly given the arson attack against Kyoto Animation
And I thought I got mad when I yell at the screen lmao.
My sister when the internet router is being slow:
I am a big Sonic fan, and what that guy did to Sega, makes me very upset and angry.
So are you going to set fire to the company?
U upload this on my birthday
Now that's some next level rage quiting right there.
In case it hasn't already been said, the figures on Japan's conviction rate are skewed by a couple of factors. The first is that even people who admit to guilt must stand trial, and the second is prosecutorial discretion. The vast majority of criminal prosecutions in Japan are based on a confession, and prosecutors are much less likely to pursue a case in Japan without a confession.
Also noteworthy, in the US, only 2% of *federal* defendants go to trial, and 83% of those are convicted. Among all federal defendants, 90% pleaded guilty, and 8% of cases were dropped. So if the US had the same system as Japan, where guilty pleas still go to trial, the US would have a 99.6% conviction rate in federal trials. (See Pew Research Center, June 11, 2019)
Now I can understand why Karen’s say video games make you violent.
All I can think about is Milton from Office Space...
So basically this guy who was angry over losing an online video game targets Sega... when they could have been literately playing any online game... I'm baffled to be honest: we're all just presuming this game is owned by Sega.
Yeah, I was confused about what SEGA game he played. I just accepted the guy's answer tho.
This should have been toward Game Freak and the horrible quality and story of their latest games.
Wow this is insane!
If Akira Watanabe DID set fire to SEGA Corporation and kill the employees, there will be no more Yakuza and Judgment sequels.
The person who burned down KyoAni's studio was given capital punishment on 2024-01-25.
It was so sad how 36 innocent souls had to perish with the studio itself... Many drawings that were used in anime like K-On, A Silent Voice, and Clannad were lost to the fire.
POV: Angry German kid loses in a game, and tells the game's developer that he will obliterate them
That's terrifying. Your practically in danger because people will take things in an unhealthy manner, which possibly turns violent.
Formerly I played DFFOO, I got also addicted to Gacha System to get the best item, but I decided to quit and moved on