The publisher of Elden Ring, the Japanese company Bandai Namco, has taken action against a former employee, has obtained an arrest warrant and demanded the release of 600 million yen in loot. In addition, some heads in the company rolled: the ex-employee’s superiors had to leave because they had let the person get away with brazen theft for over 7 years.
What had the man done? On May 14, the head of Bandai Namco said in a statement (via bandainamco) that a former employee of the Japanese developer had been sued and arrested for “misappropriation of company property.”
The person is not mentioned by name, but he is said to have embezzled a total of 4,400 mobile devices belonging to Bandai Namco between April 2015 and April 2022.
Without the express permission of Bandai Namco, the employee sold the 4,400 devices over a period of 7 years, making a profit of 600 million yen, about 3.6 million euros.
When they found out, the employee was fired in December 2022, a good six months after the thefts stopped.
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Heads rolled at Bandai Namco
Here’s how Bandai Namco took action: The developer filed a lawsuit in civil court in January 2023, and then obtained an order against the employee in December 2023. A formal complaint was then filed with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, which led to the ex-employee’s arrest on May 14.
This is the consequence for the company: However, the developers also self-critically say that they have introduced internal measures to ensure that such processes no longer happen. To do this, they want to improve internal control systems and also bring in experts from outside. You also want to work together as a group to avoid such incidents.
As the report shows, some heads have rolled: they have reduced the number of directors in the company and taken “strict disciplinary action” against the person’s direct superiors.
The 3.6 million euros should not affect the publisher’s business figures for the next financial year. Apparently they expect that the new Elden Ring DLC will bring so much money into the coffers that the few million yen don’t really matter: Elden Ring DLC: “Shadow of the Erdtree” – Overview of the release, prices and editions