On May 15, TapTechNews reported that Bandai Namco, the distributor of the popular game 'Elden Ring', responded to a case of embezzlement by a former employee. It is reported that this former employee, over a period of seven years, illegally profited approximately 600 million yen (approximately 27.78 million RMB in TapTechNews note) by selling company property - a total of 4400 mobile devices.
On May 14, Masaru Kawaguchi, a director at Bandai Namco, admitted in a statement that an employee of the company had been arrested on suspicion of embezzlement. The statement did not disclose the name of the employee, but stated that between April 2015 and April 2022, the employee had sold 4400 mobile devices without company permission.
During the seven-year period, this former employee sold off all of the devices and profited from it. In January 2023, Bandai Namco filed a civil lawsuit against the former employee, demanding compensation of 600 million yen for the losses.
In November of the same year, the civil lawsuit ended with Bandai Namco winning the case. Subsequently, Bandai Namco filed a criminal lawsuit with the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, and the former employee was arrested yesterday.
The statement also mentioned that this incident will not have any impact on Bandai Namco's consolidated earnings report until March 2025. The company expects the impact of this incident on its earnings report for the next fiscal year to be 'negligible'.