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2,600 employees impacted by Game Freak data breach, source code and game art also compromised.
The Japanese video game developer currently responsible for the popular Pokémon video game series has confirmed it was the victim of a significant data breach affecting more than 2,000 current and former staff.
In addition to employee data, a high volume of development documents were also part of the leak, and source code, art, and more have been shared on numerous game forums, in particular the popular subreddit r/PokeLeaks.
The leak – already being referred to as the ‘TeraLeak’, after a 2020 Nintendo leak known as the GigaLeak – is being anonymously hosted online, though the motive and identity of the leaker remain unknown.
“In connection with the unauthorised access by a third party to our server in August 2024, it has come to light that the personal information of our employees, etc., has been leaked,” a notice from the company, released on October 10 and translated by Google Translate, said
“We apologise for the inconvenience and concern this has caused to everyone involved.”
The leaked employee information includes personal data containing the names and emails of 2,606 current and former employees in both full-time and contract positions. Game Freak has begun contacting those affected, according to the notice.
“We have already rebuilt and re-inspected the server,” Game Freak said.
“We will strive to prevent this from happening again by further strengthening our security measures.”
As difficult as the leak must be for Game Freak and its employees, fans of the developer’s games are having a field day trawling through the data, which dates back as far as games made 25 years ago, along with game titles that have not seen the light of day.
“It's so interesting that Kecleon, Wailmer and Azurill were pretty much finalized really early on,” said one member of r/PokeLeaks.
“They're the first three Gen III Pokémon that I remember seeing around like 2001/2 on really early serebii and other Pokémon forums, when I was like eight years old.”
Others, however, are finding their joy at the new art and information tempered by the personal impact to Game Freak’s employees.
“I do hope most of the personal info stays mostly unseen, it just feels icky seeing stuff like that when I just want to see cool development info,” said another.
“I remember when personal dev emails were included with Starfox 2 beta assets back during the 2020 Gigaleak, and that also wasn't okay.”
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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