Report: Despite Covid Emergency, Capcom Made Employees Work At Office After Cyber Attack

In early January, with Japan posting some of its highest covid-19 cases, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency for a number of prefectures, including Osaka. As part of this declaration, the government asked corporate employees to work from home or limit the number of staff in the office.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Oof Capcom if true they'll be consequences

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

Not sure how I feel about this, tbh. The external network being compromised does complicate things a bit. Covid spreads very easily in an office setting though (all breathing in the same air in a confined space).

Some people here have a bad habit of defending poor behaviour by corporations - they should not be offended by the deserved criticism (Capcom were going against the guidelines set out by the Japanese government) but there is some nuance to the situation.

Capcom's response proves that this story is true so at least the story itself can't be debated.

[DarXyde]

Derfderf,

Way to minimize the reality that it is, in fact, killing people. It's also mutating and getting more dangerous—anyone who is immunocompromised, elderly, has pre-existing conditions, etc are pretty high risk. You should keep in mind that Japan is a collective culture and it is not uncommon for older relatives to be living with their working children and their families (and consequently, their grandchildren). There are rapid changes in this regard, but Osaka is closer to traditional than Tokyo and it's still a concern to be aware of.

Certainly, it would appear that Capcom has implemented some responsible measures, but none of that changes the points that a) they had a cyber attack last year and none of the executives figured out how to tighten security (which, really, is a bit of a copout since nothing can be 100% insulated from attacks once it goes online, yet other companies are still doing work-from-home) and b) Osaka isn't light on foot traffic. These days, I'm not sure. The practicality of keeping an office open and staggering work shifts just makes it slightly easier to identify the spreader once it inevitably happens. Most importantly, if the workers are uncomfortable, and this is where unionization comes in, they shouldn't be required to come to the office. That's it. Clearly, they're motivated to work if they're still showing up... I think if you polled them, Capcom would discover that their employees are uncomfortable.

[anast]

Derf,
I suppose a couple million deaths is okay as long as it doesn't get in your way.

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

@DarXyde

Without masks, lockdowns, etc hospitals simply can't handle the influx of patients and huge amounts of people die that don't need to die. "The end."

534,000 are officially dead from it in America (real figures estimated to be much higher). Lockdowns were estimated to have saved 3.2 million people in Europe alone by May last year. https://www.google.com/amp/...

If we suddenly went completely back to normal right now before getting everyone vaccinated, you would get to see what this virus can really do.

I live in Ireland. We had very good Covid figures so restrictions were eased JUST for Christmas - we're still recovering from that bad decision now months later.

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

@DerfDerf

You're just rambling, man. You intentionally didn't address the fact that millions more would be dead be without masks, lockdowns, etc so you know that Covid-19 is extremely dangerous, but don't want to acknowledge it out of stubbornness. You have no counter-argument.

3.2 million lives were saved by lockdowns by just May 2020 in Europe, and I've cited actual evidence for that. https://www.bbc.com/news/he... It would be similar for America. It really isn't possible to get through to you guys. Misinformation has rotted your brains.

[Hotabang]

@derf
"People die every day from all kinds of shit".
All kinds of shit people die from like your mentioned heart attacks don't really spread to others so, you know just go about your ignorant ways man

[spwittbold]

"there will," = "there'll," welcome to 2nd grade English.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

I luv too bro lol

[Nerdmaster]

It's most probably true, but there aren't any consequences to be had. I really despise most of the big game companies and how they treat their employees, but in this case, it's an exaggeration.

Japan never declared a lockdown, but issued a "state of emergency", meaning that while the government was asking for as many people as possible to work from home, most companies didn't or couldn't turn to remote work, or only part of the staff worked from home if it was possible.

The emphasis is in the part "as possible". Capcom had just suffered its biggest cyber attack ever, They couldn't be sure their external network was safe at the time. Why in heaven's name would a company continue to work remotely in this situation? Especially when, as I said, there was no real lockdown in effect. A lot of companies (I would say most, judging by the trains and crowds in the streets here in Japan during that time) kept working normally even if they could arguably turn to remote work for many of its employees even without an emergency like the one Capcom had.

[Smok91]

This stuff always cracks me up. Maybe it’s because as a Nurse you work through anything.

[Lord_Sloth]

Right? I work in a crisis center and am locked in close quarters with about 60 new, random faces every week, and before this I was in retail where nobody knows what personal space is.

[zacfoldor]

I was thinking the same thing, haha.

[anast]

That's cool. So when was everyone trained like you to handle situations like this?

[Smok91]

How do we train for a shortage of PPE and a pandemic?

Theres no training for situations like this. As a society we are grossly negligent in our preparation for events like Covid. Please follow the news.

[anast]

@Smok

First, thank you for doing your job. I wouldn't want to do it nor am I capable of doing so, as I didn't go through the intense study it takes to become a member of the medical field. Hence the shortage, but this is not what you had stated previously,

"This stuff always cracks me up. Maybe it’s because as a Nurse you work through anything."

Nurses and doctors are trained to handle these situations, though that training isn't an act of Nostradamus . The general public is not trained at all. This is why Nurses and doctors continue to work and a lot of people (managers, restaurant workers etc.) who are not trained find it difficult to manage during times like this. So, of course, nurses and doctors would be most equipped to work with biological hazards and the general public is not.

Medical workers are leaps ahead, not perfect, but far more experienced in crisis management than old bill down the street. This is due to training. And this is why I don't understand your surprise that the general public is having more trouble with this than you.

@RgR Nurses and doctors choose to work with all sorts of biological hazards. It's their job. If the average worker was trained, possibly in the future, then maybe, I mean maybe, things would run a lot smoother. At any rate, all work is voluntary. People voluntarily sign contracts to become wage slaves. There are options, albeit those options are extremely uncomfortable.

[rokos]

Thanks for the Report not sure if we are the people that should be taking action

[Parasyte]

Who would want to work for a company like that?

[plmkoh]

Back in January this is same Government that said the Olympics was still going ahead and that the country only had less than a few hundred cases at worst....

Yeah nah this is just another Craptaku article stirring the pot.

Also why is Craptaku unbanned?

[ScootaKuH]

I mean, at this point I've been working from home, barely left my house in a year. I would give anything to get back to the office.

Covid doesn't scare me, my government does.

[Hotabang]

Not surprised, they overworked Ono until he got hospitalized and then fired him (the man who was in charge of street fighter 4, which many feel is better than 5)
Capcom is pretty scummy especially with how business life is in Japan

[DivineHand125]

This one is tricky since they have traced the data breach to their outside network and they no longer feel confident that they can keep their network secure while having persons work from home. They say they are doing all they can to protect the employees while they are in the office but that will need to be evaluated to see how effective it is and how well the protocols are being followed because what this pandemic has taught us is that we cannot soley rely on adults to practice personal responsibility. Another article will be needed to look into this.

[sourOG]

Japan had one of the best covid responses so it’s not surprising. What’s up with gaming media trying to turn game studios into cartoon villains? It’s pathetic, I miss the 90s game media when they actually played games.

[TriniOutsider]

This kind of stuff has been going on in Japan for how long now. This isn't a Capcom thing alone.