In October 2024, a massive Pokémon leak, including documents and early game builds, was revealed to the public, and now Nintendo wants Discord to reveal the leaker.
For the uninitiated, in October 2024, an internal document leak occurred at Pokémon developer Game Freak. Dubbed the “Teraleak” by the community due to its massive scale, a leaker claimed to possess numerous internal documents—some of which include a now-infamously meme’d Typhlosion backstory—along with project codenames, game builds, and more.
The leaker also shared information hidden in the Game Freak archives, including beta versions of past Pokémon games and details on various unannounced or cancelled projects. They even claimed to have source code for the upcoming title Pokémon Legends: Z-A, which remains unreleased at the time of publication.
Nintendo is now pursuing legal action to pressure Discord into naming the alleged leaker, who goes by the name “GameFreakOUT.” According to documents released by Polygon, the subpoena requests that Discord Inc. provide information on the user behind the GameFreakOUT account, alleging they infringed on Game Freak content.
The order states: “The content infringes NOA’s [Nintendo of America’s] exclusive rights under copyright law. Specifically, it infringes NOA’s rights in the copyright-protected artwork, characters and other materials related to the famous Pokémon franchise, including but not limited to video games developed in connection with the Pokémon franchise, such as the video game Pokémon Legends: Arceus.”
Nintendo filed its request for a subpoena on April 18 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The subpoena seeks the name, address, email address, and phone number of the individual behind the GameFreakOUT account. It’s worth noting that Nintendo and Game Freak are already involved in another ongoing legal battle with Palworld creator Pocketpair, over a patent infringement lawsuit with ties in Japan and potentially the United States.
As of publication, Nintendo remains embroiled in two separate legal battles involving Game Freak and the Pokémon franchise. CGMagazine will continue to update readers as verdicts are reached.
