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Several armed officers were called to the house of a Bungie executive after yet another prank emergency call. Apparently the police arrived at 3am in preparation to deal with a hostage situation that was actually a complete lie. Someone called in saying that they had broken into the house and were holding the residents of the Washington state home hostage, claiming they had an assault rifle and had put explosives in the yard.

Nathan Elledge, the chief of police at the Sammamish Police Department, said that the prank caller had asked for 20,000 to release the family, but it took police about half an hour to realise the call was a complete hoax.

So, this is a new and pretty disgusting trend called ‘Swatting’, which has happened a handful of times in the games industry and community. Elledge said:


“This is not a game. This is a very serious response that could've had serious consequences and we're just fortunate that didn't happen this time. It puts officers' lives at risk when you respond to something this serious. It puts the citizens' lives at risk.”


Not only that, but if those who are making the fake calls are actually caught, they face a year in jail and a $5,000 fine, which honestly doesn’t sound like enough to me.