Square Enix has published its recent “group policy regarding customer harassment” on January 10, outlining the publisher’s approach to refusing service to aggressive customers, including the possibility of filing a lawsuit against those who attack its employees.
“If Square Enix determines that an individual has engaged in conduct against one of our employees or partners that exceeds socially acceptable behavior or is harmful,” the policy states, “we reserve the right to discontinue support services or refrain from providing our products and group services. If such action is egregious or has malicious intent, Square Enix reserves the right to protect its employees and partners and to take legal or criminal action after consulting with the police and/or lawyers.”
The policy divides harmful behavior into two categories: harassment and excessive demands. The former covers acts of violence, foul language and intimidation, and discriminatory statements, while the latter focuses on unjustified demands for monetary damages and excessive demands for employee punishment.
If you’ve spent any time on the internet and watched some of the gaming community interact with developers, none of this should come as much of a surprise. In fact, Ultimate Fantasy 14 producer Naoki Yoshida recently had to come out and beg players to do so stop lobbying transphobic abuse to English voice actress Sena Bryer regarding her role as Wuk Lamat in Trail of Dawn expansion.
Square Enix’s policy is part of a larger movement in Japanese society to combat a growing culture of customer harassment. As reported “Japanese Times”.The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare presented and approved a report in December 2024 that, if implemented, will require companies to protect their employees from “behavior of customers, business partners, facility users and others that go beyond what is socially acceptable and harms the employee environment.”
Other Japanese companies like Sega, Level-5 and Rakuten have the same thing implemented identical politics also for the last year. Sega he even took legal action against someone for “slander and extreme acts of harassment” against one of its employees via social media, announcing in July 2024 that the defendant had been ordered to pay undisclosed damages to the victim. A similar case occurred in 2023, when a court in Washington awarded Bungie almost $500,000 in damages for Destiny 2 a player who harassed one of the community managers. Both victories could set an vital precedent for future proceedings.