Nintendo Live Tokyo 2024 Canceled Due to Safety Concerns

Back in April, Nintendo announced Nintendo Live 2023, an event in Seattle where fans could gather for activities centered around games, tournaments, photo ops, and more. Nintendo is an international company, so naturally other events were planned elsewhere around the world, including Nintendo Live 2024 Tokyo. This event was to take place from January 20 to January 21, 2024 at the Tokyo Big Sight International Exhibition Center. Unfortunately, Nintendo has announced that the event is now canceled.

The Tokyo Big Sight International Exhibition Center, where Nintendo Live 2024 Tokyo was to be held.

The cancellation doesn’t appear to be from a lack of interest. Apparently, Nintendo is dealing with a bombardment of threats to its staff and customers, which is why the event is being postponed. Here’s the statement from the company, translated from its Japanese website:

Reason for postponement

Our company has been persistently receiving threats targeting our employees, and recently, the targets of these threats have spread to spectators, staff, etc. of the “Splatoon Koshien 2023 National Finals”. Considering safety as our top priority, we have made the decision to postpone the event.

The nature and reason for these threats has not been disclosed, but the risk is clearly too high for Nintendo to ignore. This cancellation means that the Splatoon Koshien 2023 National Final Tournament, Splatoon 3 World Championship 2024, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Online Challenge Final Stage, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe World Championship 2024 are all being pushed back. Once rescheduled, Nintendo says it will announce the new dates via its website and official X account.

Source: Nintendo of Japan Website