Last November, Pokémon Sword and Shield suffered a series of big leaks in the run up to their release.
Before the game was on shop shelves, large swathes of its Pokédex had been posted online, with new designs of old favourite Pokémon available to view on reddit and other such places.
Now, in February, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have issued a statement on the matter. In short, Nintendo wants you to know it quickly found the culprit behind much of the leaked material: a small Portuguese website named FNintendo it has now severed all ties with.
It’s rare for someone with a review copy of a game to break confidentiality in this way. Journalists regularly sign non-disclosure agreements with publishers to receive copies of games prior to their release, with an embargo time agreed upon in advance for coverage to go live.
But it’s even rarer for a publisher to come out and publicly point the finger at the site responsible, and openly state it will no longer work with it.
Today’s statement speaks to how big a business Pokémon is (enormous, as Pokémon Sword and Shield’s eye-opening recent sales figures show) and how protective The Pokémon Company feels over the outlets Nintendo chooses to send review copies to.
There’s no suggestion of legal action between Nintendo and FNintendo. But this will serve as a warning ahead of Sword and Shield’s upcoming expansions.
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Nintendo and The Pokémon Company’s statement follows in full:
“In early November, Nintendo identified a number of photographs taken from game play that revealed multiple new and unannounced Pokémon from Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield. These photographs had been posted online and Nintendo, together with The Pokémon Company, quickly identified the person responsible for these leaks, and took immediate action.