Game Freak reveal major data breach as Pokemon leaks go viral

Game Freak issued a statement confirming that it suffered a data breach in August 2024 just days before a massive leak of company assets on October 12.

The document, originally published in Japanese and translated to English, reads: “In connection with unauthorized access by a third party to our server in August 2024, it was found that personal information of our employees, etc. was leaked.”

It confirmed that 2,606 cases of “personal information” were compromised, including names and email addresses. Further, the company outlined that in response to the breach, it would be contacting “applicable employees individually.”

“For those who are unable to contact us individually due to retirement, etc. we will inform you in this announcement,” the letter continued, adding “We will set up an inquiry window regarding this matter and respond.”

Listed under measures to prevent recurrence, Game Freak stated it had “already carried out server reconstruction and re-inspection,” and that it would “strive to prevent recurrence by further strengthening security measures.”

It’s worth noting that the original letter is dated October 10, two days before leaks began circulating. In addition to source code for older games in the Pokemon franchise leaking online, details about Gen 10 and Nintendo’s upcoming successor to the Switch were included.

Game Freak’s statement makes no mention of commercial assets or intellectual property, so it’s not immediately clear if the August breach and the October 12 leaks are connected, or if the latter stems from a different source entirely.

Neither Switch 2 nor Pokemon’s tenth Generation have been officially revealed. Nintendo’s next generation of hardware is expected to arrive sometime in 2025, while the only Pokemon title known to be in development is Legends Z-A. The latter is a spin-off of the core RPG series and a follow-up to 2022’s Legends Arceus.