Square Enix Cancels Game Tournaments After Death Threats to Staff

Published: August 19, 2019 9:20 AM /

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starwing paradox mech square enix

Square Enix was forced to cancel several upcoming tournaments for the game Starwing Paradox due to death threats against their staff.

The announcement was made on their Japanese website page.

"From last week until yesterday, there were several killing notices to the Starwing Paradox management team," reads the short statement. "In response to this, we consulted with the police on the premise of submitting a damage report and, after careful discussions with relevant parties, we will give the top priority to customer safety and take the above measures."

In total, four tournaments for Starwing Paradox across Japan over the next two weekends have been canceled.

The threats come after the wake of the Kyoto Animation Arson attack, which killed 35 people. Square Enix has received several threats this month, with one man arrested last week for allegedly telling Square Enix they wanted to repeat the Kyoto Animation tragedy to their offices.

Unfortunately, this is just one of a string of incidents that have seen Square Enix bear the brunt of death threats. According to Gamespot, last September around 30 emails were sent to the Square Enix offices, with the word 'Kill' written on them in Japanese. In March of this year, another man was arrested after threatening to kill staff at the company because he spent over 200,000 yen ($1,794) trying to unlock a specific item in a gacha game.

Starwing Paradox is a popular arcade game released in Japan late last year, featuring animation from Sunrise studio, the team behind the Gundam Franchise. The objective of the game is to build up a giant mech avatar to participate in multiplayer battles. The cabinets themselves have garnered much attention from fans for being touch screens, and combining a force feedback chair, dual stick control and pedals into the structure, allowing players to truly simulate flying a giant mech.

There is no word if Square Enix will reschedule the tournaments at a later date. For now, the company is working closely with Japanese authorities and investigations are currently ongoing.

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| Staff Writer

A longtime player of games, creator of worlds, and teacher of minds. Robert has worked many positions over the years, from college professor to education… More about Robert