Washington state local police said an executive for video game maker Bungie was the victim Thursday of a hoax by a caller who claimed he had an assault rifle and was holding the family hostage.

"He wanted $20,000 to release the family," Nathan Elledge, chief of the Sammamish Police Department, told local media.

The 4am call appeared as if it came from within the executive's suburban residence, police said. They dispatched a helicopter overhead. Police surrounded the residence of the executive of the Bellevue-based game maker whose identity was not released. A SWAT team was on the ready, police said.

About an hour into the incident, police said the executive finally came out of the suburban house in his bathrobe—the victim of a swatting hoax.

"He seemed very confused at what was going on," King County Sheriff's Office Deputy Jason Houck told Komonews.com. Houck suspected that the prankster might have been a "contractor for his work or someone at his work who didn't have a great experience with him."

Police did not immediately respond to Ars for comment. And nobody answered the phone at Bungie, the maker of the Halo series and, most recently, Destiny. The company told Komonews that the victim was "okay" and declined further comment.