A 41-year-old Konami employee has been arrested for attempted murder in Japan after hitting his 48-year-old ex-boss in the back of the head with a fire extinguisher, per Mainichi (via Genki and Siliconera translation). The Konami employee hit his former boss with the fire extinguisher at the office out of frustration with “power harassment,” and he apparently did intend to kill his boss. However, other employees restrained him, and the injured party went to the hospital, where he will recover.
In Japan, power harassment essentially consists of using authority to bully employees, and it’s enough of a problem that legislation was passed in the last few years to combat it. The attacking Konami employee has apparently yet to detail to authorities the ways his former boss exerted power harassment over him, but he had gone to Konami HR in the past to report the problem. However, Konami ultimately rejected that there was a problem but opted in 2020 to send the employee to a new team where he would not answer to that boss anymore.
So, this is a messy situation where it seems potentially several people behaved badly. As a general rule, you shouldn’t try to murder someone with a fire extinguisher, even if it’s at the company that made Metal Gear Survive. You also shouldn’t (allegedly) abuse your authority to make other people feel lesser. Communication is the answer. Don’t make violence. Make a bunch of Silent Hill and maybe Metal Gear and Castlevania games instead.
