If you cast your mind back to October 2024, you might recall The Pokémon Company being subjected to a hacking which resulted in huge amounts of company data (including personal information regarding its employees) being leaked online. The so-called ‘Teraleak‘ was one of the largest in recent memory, and now it seems Nintendo is going after the person responsible (thanks for the heads up, Polygon).
In a recent subpoena document submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on 18th April 2025 (via Polygon), Nintendo requested that Discord reveal the identity of user ‘GameFreakOUT’ — the party accused of leaking “confidential materials not released to the public” on the ‘FreakLeak’ server.
According to a document accompanying the subpoena, Nintendo states that “The information obtained will be used only for the purposes of protecting the rights granted to NOA under the Copyright Act”, not clarifying whether a further court case would follow the reveal of the accused’s name, address, telephone number, and e-mail.
Nintendo has also attached a redacted screenshot of the Discord server in question, showing GameFreakOUT asking users to “enjoy” a file containing leaked information.
Such a request doesn’t necessarily mean that Nintendo will take the case further in court, though Polygon notes that TPC did end up taking $150,000 each from the two leakers behind the Sword and Shield strategy guide leak back in 2019, so there’s every chance that a similar follow-up could ensue here.
As a reminder, last year’s ‘teraleak’ reportedly contained everything from game source codes to future project details. At the time, the leaker claimed to have access to Pokémon Legends: Z-A‘s source code, though this was never shared online.