Tomoyuki “Katsuninken” Inui, a 33-year-old former FGC champion and an Esports star was recently arrested in Japan. The reason for the arrest was allegedly stealing more than $23,000 while invading an 84-year-old woman’s apartment in Tokyo. When he was questioned by the authorities, Tomoyuki confessed to committing more than 100 burglaries in the past three years. These burglaries by the Esports star are definitely not minor charges.

The Esports star explained the motive – allegedly, the reason is that the gamesupport is dwindling and he had to support his living expenses… By burgling other people’s homes.

The detainee has, under the name “Katsuninken”, won the Dead or alive Ultimate tournament in Singapore, 2005. For this endeavor, he received $15,000 (~$19,800 adjusted to inflation). After this, he did not participate in the DoA 4 tournaments in 2006 and 2007. Eventually, support for Dead or Alive series died, even though the Esports industry itself exploded.

The game’s latest iteration, Dead or Alive 6 was released on March 1st. This is only days after the Esports star broke into the old lady’s home. This year, Koei Techmo offers a $90,000 base prize in the World Championship. Times are changing, and if the player kept his focus on perfecting his performance, maybe his file would be different. The Capcom Pro Tour, one of the biggest tournaments for games similar to DoA, awarded around $680,000 in prize money in 2018 for Street Fighter!







Although it is wrong what he did, this does indicate to a problem in Japan. There is a serious lack of long-term security for Esports players in the country. After his career and winnings, he doesn’t have very much left to do. The country’s law says that unlicensed competition for prize money is in the same basket as gambling. This, along with more rules that make earning larger amounts of money from video games difficult, certainly do affect some player’s lives.

Related: GameStop Saving Themselves By Entering Esports