Nintendo victim of a major leak. 1 TB of data stolen from the creators of the Pokemon series

Source: Pokemon: Film pierwszy – Zemsta Mewtwo / 1998 / Nintendo / Warner Bros. Poland.

i

Creators of the Pokemon Series suffered a gigantic data breach. The hacker managed to steal approximately 1 TB of data from Game Freak and has already shared some of the information obtained.

Formally, the leak was supposed to have occurred in August 2024, but only now has the information appeared online, and the developer released a statement confirming the data theft.

Exchange 2 and 1 TB of Pokemon data

In his statement, the study focused only on the employee data that was leaked, but that’s not what caused the biggest emotions (and controversy). The leak contains information not only about more than 2.6 thousand employees of Game Freak and the old games of the studio (for now, mainly). 3rd, 4th i 5th generation pokemon games ), but also about emerging projects. The news has been circulating on social media thanks to groups like CentroLeaks and PokeLeaks, and all the information so far has been collected on Pokeos.

In fact, among the data that appeared on the network was the code name for the new Nintendo console (ounce). This is the planned platform for the 10th generation of pokemon games, mentioned in the leak under the working name Gaia. There is also a mention synapsea title with MMO elements co-created with another studio.

This is followed by the aforementioned information on the 3rd – 5th generation. pokemon games, some intriguing (including creature designs, some of which might give you nightmares), but a bit controversial in places.

Discretion from the AZ

As usual, fans are divided over the leak. Of course, all fans of “pocket monsters” are intrigued, because “Teraleak” (as some players called this incident) includes information about the behind-the-scenes development and the concept of pokemon history and world history.

However, for Game Freak and Nintendo, it’s a disaster at least on the scale of a similar leak from 2020, which is still one of the biggest in video game history (and aptly named “Gigaleak”). What’s worse, the studio recently gained sympathy from fans due to the decision to extend the development time of the upcoming pokemon games This, as expected by players after Nintendo’s statements, will ensure a higher quality of games in Generation X (which, in part, has already been shown in the Scarlet / Violet duo).

What’s worse, what we’ve seen so far is only the tip of the iceberg. Since the leak surfaced, fans have discovered materials from Pokémon Gen 6 games and new movies, and the source code of an initial version of Pokemon Legends: ZA allegedly fell into the hands of the hacker (via Reddit). If the Grand Theft Auto VI leak was devastating to the morale of Rockstar employees, then “Teraleak” is a nuclear disaster for Game Freak developers. Hence the statements about “minimizing security gaps” after the August crash.

In fact, the hacker had stated that he wouldn’t reveal too much about the studio’s upcoming games (apart from what also relates to the anime series), but even without that, Game Freak has no reason to be satisfied

An employee targeted by Nintendo’s ninja?

How did the leak happen? We don’t have official information, but the content of the leak suggests that one of the Game Freak employees was a victim of so-called “phishing”, using his work email address on other websites. Some netizens and journalists speculate that there were in fact two thefts, meaning that the data obtained in August was used to steal a larger amount of data in October. That would explain a 2 month gap and the data only being leaked now.

Many fans, more or less seriously, sympathize with the employee who – according to an old meme – was allegedly targeted by the “Nintendo ninja” teams. Even if his employer turned out to be more merciful, the developer probably did not start the week with success and peace of mind.