Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years.
TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust.
What just happened? Nintendo, probably the most litigious games company in the world, has requested a DMCA subpoena ordering Discord to reveal the identity of the person behind last year's Pokémon "Teraleak." The leaker allegedly hacked Pokémon developer Game Freak and posted a slew of data covering not only unreleased and upcoming work, but also personal information about employees.
In October 2024, Discord user GameFreakOUT posted 1 terabyte of data to a Discord server called FeakLeak that included so much unseen Pokémon-related material that the community gave it the nickname Teraleak.
The leak included information about upcoming projects such as Pokémon Legends: Z-A, minutes from a Pokémon Company meeting, concept art from the original 1997 anime, source code for the DS games Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, and much more. The source of all this was Game Freak's internal servers, which meant it also included employee details.
Game Freak said data on more than 2,000 current and former members of staff had been breached in August 2024.
Six months after the Teraleak incident, Polygon reports that Nintendo filed a request for a subpoena on April 18 in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The subpoena would order Discord to reveal GameFreakOUT's name, address, phone number, and email address.
Nintendo issued DMCA requests at the time of the leak to try to remove the data, but it can still be found online.
Nintendo never said what it would do if the subpoena is granted and the leaker's identity is revealed, though it's easy to guess its plans. The company is famous for coming down hard on those who it calls copyright infringers. The most famous case is that of Gary Bowser, who was sentenced 40 months in federal prison (he was released after a year) for selling modchips and jailbreaks used to circumvent Nintendo's security measures. He also has to pay Nintendo a total of $14.5 million.
While the leaker in this instance never sold anything, Nintendo in 2021 took two Pokémon Sword and Shield leakers to court. They had to pay The Pokémon Company $150,000 each in damages and attorneys' fees. The size of the Teraleak, the fact it included employee details, and the alleged hacking mean GameFreakOUT would likely receive a harsher punishment.
Nintendo owns around 33% of Pokémon. Game Freak and The Pokémon Company own the other two-thirds.
Masthead: Michael Rivera
English (US) ·