Game Freak confirms massive data breach of over 2600 employees and contractors

Pokemon developer Game Freak has revealed that it has suffered a data breach that has led to the breach of personal information of thousands of employees and contractors.

In a warning (PDF) published on October 10, 2024, Game Freak disclosed that an unauthorized party accessed its servers in August 2024 and accessed the personal information of employees and contractors. The breach involved the theft and leakage of personal data of at least 2,600 current and former employees, including their names and company email addresses, among other data.

The company says it will contact employees individually, and anyone who cannot be reached will be able to contact a hotline set up to handle inquiries. It also says that the affected servers have been inspected and rebuilt, and that more security measures will be implemented to prevent this from happening in the future.

The news comes amid an alleged leak of information from Game Freak, including development resources, beta details and more. Large amounts of apparently leaked data have been made available online on social networking sites and forums. Neither Game Freak nor Nintendo have commented on the apparent leaks, and they have yet to be confirmed as real.

Game Freak is best known for its development of the main series Pokémon games, having served as lead developer on all titles in the series except Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, which were developed by ILCA with Game Freak’s oversight . The company has about 200 permanent employees, but hires thousands of additional workers to work on games like Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, the best game that barely works.

The developer doesn’t just work on Pokemon, as it has worked on several smaller titles outside of the series, some of which are available on other consoles and platforms. In fact, Game Freak is working on a non-Pokemon action-adventure game right now alongside Private Division, a subsidiary of Take-Two that focuses on independent games.