Following the enormous Game Freak leak last year, known online as the “Teraleak” thanks to the sheer amount of information supposedly revealed, Nintendo has now filed a request for a subpoena to try and identify the person behind it.
The so-called Teraleak potentially lifted the veil on everything from Pokemon Legends Z-A source code and unannounced games to information about the Nintendo Switch 2, a console that hadn’t yet officially been showcased. Teraleak, which caused such an impact, Pokemon developer Game Freak formally apologized to employees, seemingly started in a Discord server known as “FreakLeak” with leaked information coming from user “GameFreakOUT.”
Nintendo is now trying to track this user down, it seems, as per new court documents shared by Polygon. Filing a request for a subpoena on April 18 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Nintendo alleges in its declaration accompanying the subpoena request that GameFreakOUT sent “confidential materials not released to the public” in the FreakLeak server. The company aims to “obtain the identity of the Discord user.”
Alongside Nintendo’s request and declaration comes a screenshot of the FreakLeak server, in which GameFreakOUT can be seen posting a file and telling readers to “enjoy.” The company initially had tried to take quick action against the leaker via DMCA takedown requests, but the leaked information, including what might have been the Pokemon series’ entire origin myth, continued to circulate online in other Discord servers and on social media.
There’s no telling just yet whether the subpoena will go through or prove to be fruitful, and if Nintendo will proceed with any further legal action – but I personally wouldn’t be surprised if the company did. Situations like last year’s pre-release game stream lawsuit, the other recent Palworld patent lawsuit, and, of course, the Pokemon clone PokeZoo debacle serve as proof that Nintendo is prepared to protect its intellectual property, even in court.
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