“My younger sister was kidnapped,” recalls a Japanese game developer disguising his identity under the alias Hideo Nanashi. “[REDACTED] hired some gangsters to do it. They did it to make me stop cooperating with Nintendo.” Coming from the book The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers Volume 2 by John Szczepaniak, this shocking anecdote shines a light on the dirty practices some Japanese video game companies resorted to in the early decades of the industry. To understand the story, it’s key to know the situation game companies found themselves in during this era.

Nanashi explains:

“In Japan, you have these evil companies that always crop up, and unlike the West, in Japan there’s a perception that “play” is bad, the opposite of hard work. So amusement-oriented industries inevitably become infested with evil companies and ties to the underworld. Take arcades, for example. In legal terms, they’re covered under laws regarding the entertainment and amusement trades. So they’re managed under the same laws that regulate the adult, or “pink”, industry. Because of that, the underworld gets involved. The only companies that have been able to do business while staying clean are probably Nintendo and Namco.” — Hideo Nanashi

These evil underworld companies Nanashi mentions refer to none other than Japan’s infamous Yakuza crime syndicates. Following the kidnapping, Nanashi retaliated by destroying an arcade cabinet of one of the games made by the developer that had his sister kidnapped. He had the machine dropped off in front of the company’s headquarters by a truck-mounted crane to leave them the message.

“It was one of their game machines. I dropped it in front of their offices, smashed it. And I told them that one of their employees would be next. To show them that I was serious. That way they would feel ashamed of their actions, you know? It was easy for me to get a [REDACTED] arcade cabinet cheaply, so I bought one from a distributor. I thought about robbing a [REDACTED] arcade, too, but that’s much more difficult, and that would make me a criminal. With what I ended up doing, I could have been charged with something like unlawful dumping of garbage, but that’s a minor offence. Whereas if I had robbed a [REDACTED] arcade, I would have been arrested. [REDACTED] was well-versed in using the underworld to get what they want, so if you’re going up against them, you have to be smart. They’re a big company, so if you try to fight them with ordinary methods, they’ll work with the police and get the legal system to come after you. They might even pay off a politician, like a member of the National Diet. Who knows what they’re capable of? “I just smashed it in front of their main office in the middle of the night. It was easy. The [REDACTED] headquarters are in [REDACTED] now, but back then they were near [REDACTED] Airport. Their office building was right in front of a major street, in a commercial district without any residential homes. “…I didn’t dump it myself. I had someone else do it, because I don’t have a driver’s license. I had him just drop the machine and dump it, so I don’t know how damaged it was, but I assume it smashed apart. And then I sent [REDACTED] a letter.” — Hideo Nanashi

In conclusion, Nanashi mentions that karma eventually caught up to the company in question when, in 2000, they lost a lot of business during backlash against them for operating “isolation rooms.” This practice involved keeping employees in isolated offices with nothing to do until they were forced to resign from their positions.

Source: The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers Volume 2 (via Nintendo Life)

No

ChannelImages

Our Verdict

Top