Game Freak confirms data breach following massive Pokémon leak

While Nintendo and The Pokémon Company often like to keep a lot of secrets, Game Freak has not been great at stopping leaks over the years. We see substantial leaks for mainline Pokémon games every generation, and things are no different with the upcoming title, Pokémon Legends ZA. 

As first reported by Nintendo Life, a number of Pokémon-related leaks have hit the internet over the past few days. This includes everything from source code to the codenames for several upcoming games.

The leak appears to have been the result of a phishing scam, which allowed a third-party to gain access to internal Game Freak systems. Due to this breach, the details of well over 2,000 Game Freak employees have now been compromised. The studio has confirmed exactly that in response to the leaks over the weekend.

Due to the source code leaks, fans have begun working on ports for fan favourite titles like Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver. The leak has also confirmed three new games in development, one of which is Pokémon Legends ZA, releasing for Nintendo Switch in 2025. It would seem the first batch of games for Nintendo's next-gen console are also in the works.

KitGuru Says: As this leak involves trade secrets and employee personal information, law enforcement will no doubt be getting involved. We'll keep an eye out for any updates as Game Freak investigates. For now though, whatever vulnerability was present has been fixed on their end. 

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