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Nintendo Seeks Subpoena of Discord for Pokémon Leaker Info

Polygon reported on Monday that Nintendo requested the United States District Court for the Northern District of California to issue a subpoena to compel Discord to share information on the alleged leaker who released almost a terabyte of data from Nintendo subsidiary and Pokémon game developer GAME FREAK last October. Nintendo submitted the subpoena request on the so-called "Teraleak" on Thursday.

Nintendo's request includes redacted screenshots from a Discord server named "FreakLeak." The screenshots show the leaker, who went by the handle "GameFreakOUT," allegedly posting the leaked data on the server. Nintendo is requesting the leaker's name, postal address, phone number, and email address from Discord.

The "Teraleak" led to the names and company email addresses of 2,606 current and former GAME FREAK employees and contract workers being leaked. It also allegedly included information from upcoming projects, and assets from past games. The leaks reportedly include information on an unannounced Pokémon game for both the Switch and its planned successor, a separate unannounced Pokémon game co-developed with another studio, assets of unused graphics and music from past Pokémon games for the Nintendo DS, a planned live-action Pokémon Netflix show, and a planned sequel to the 2019 live-action Detective Pikachu film.

GAME FREAK is best known for its development of the main Pokémon series of games, which it began with Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue in 1996. The company most recently developed the Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet games, which debuted in November 2022. GAME FREAK is currently developing the Pokémon Legends Z-A game for the Switch, with a planned late 2025 release date.

Sources: Polygon (Nicole Carpenter), Gamespot (Josh Broadwell)