Nintendo has taken legal action by requesting a subpoena from a California court, aiming to compel Discord to disclose the identity of the individual behind last year's significant Pokemon leak, dubbed the "FreakLeak" or "TeraLeak." According to court documents reported by Polygon, Nintendo seeks the name, address, phone number, and email address of the Discord user known as "GameFreakOUT." This user is alleged to have posted copyright-protected Pokemon content, including artwork, characters, source code, and other materials, to a Discord server called "FreakLeak" in October of last year. Following this, the materials were widely distributed across the internet.
Though not officially confirmed, the leaked materials likely originated from a data breach disclosed by Game Freak in October, after the breach occurred in August. The breach compromised 2,606 records of current, former, and contract employees. Interestingly, the leaked files surfaced online on October 12, and Game Freak's statement, dated October 10 but released on October 13, only mentioned the breach of employee information without referencing any confidential company materials.
The "FreakLeak" included information on numerous unannounced projects, cut content, background details, and early builds of various Pokemon games. Notably, it unveiled "Pokemon Champions," a battle-focused game announced in February, and contained accurate details about "Pokemon Legends: Z-A," as well as unverified information about the next Pokemon generation. The leak also included source code for DS Pokemon titles, meeting summaries, and cut lore from "Pokemon Legends: Arceus" and other games.
Although Nintendo has not yet filed a lawsuit against the hacker or leaker, the subpoena suggests that they are actively seeking to identify the responsible individual. Given Nintendo's history of aggressively pursuing legal action against piracy and patent infringement, if the subpoena is granted, it may only be a matter of time before further legal proceedings are initiated.
