Japanese studio Game Freak, known primarily for the Pokemon series, has become the victim of a large-scale data leak. Gigabytes of behind-the-scenes information have become publicly available.
Image Source: The Pokemon Company
Insiders and data miners were the first to report the leak, and later the hack was confirmed by Game Freak itself. According to the studio, in August, hackers gained unauthorized access to the system and 2,606 records with information about the company’s employees.
According to Game Freak, the attackers obtained the full names, addresses (including email) and phone numbers of current and former employees. The studio assured that it had already fixed the vulnerability and apologized for the situation.
Image source: Nintendo
According to unofficial data, the leak goes far beyond the theft of personal data of Game Freak employees. Numerous materials that are in the public domain are actively published on social networks.
These include pre-release developments for various Pokemon (including beta versions of character designs), source code for games in the Nintendo DS series (HeartGold/Soulsilver, Black 2/White 2), details of upcoming film adaptations, and much more.
Image Source: Warner Bros. Pictures
In addition, the leak revealed codenames for Nintendo Switch 2 (Ounce) and Pokemon games with tenth generation Pokemon (Gaia), as well as the original release dates for Pokemon Legends: Z-A – the game was supposed to be released in winter 2024.
Let us remind you that Pokemon Legends: Z-A is planned for release in 2025 on “systems of the Nintendo Switch family.” Players will return to the sixth generation region of Kalos and witness a mega evolution that has not been seen in the series for several years.