An infamous Nintendo leaker has shared even more images of the new Pokémon and the new gym leaders coming in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Will Nintendo be able to track him down? Or will he keep getting away with it?
Are you hyped for Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet? The most recent entry in the franchise left our whole office divided, and so we're not sure how to feel. But it's hard not to get a little be excited when you hear about new Pokémon games. And these two will feature massive open-world's with urban areas and borders to one another, so they're sounding great on paper. We'll have to wait until release to be sure, but until then we can already give you a sneak-peak at some new Pokémon and gym leaders. Let's get to the leaks!
Images Of The New Pokémon & Gym Leaders
Thanks to a very brave (and possibly very stupid) Nintendo leaker called @PKMNleak, we've just received images alleging to show the new Pokémon and gym leaders coming in the new games. Nintendo are known for going after leakers, and going after them hard, so we don't know much longer the images will remain up on @PKMNleak's timeline. But here are the images that this leaker claims came from Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet:
All gym leaders + 3 new Pokemon + your rival Don't forget to follow me #ScarletViolet #PokemonScarletViolet #Pokemon @RuffledRowlit @aDrive_tK @HDvee @shistoplays @3clipse_tt pic.twitter.com/98iYhPncI0
— PokemonLEAKS (@PKMNleak) July 11, 2022
As you can see, the images are very low quality, and so we cannot guarantee these actually come from Pokémon; they could have been manufactured by @PKMNleak to gain followers. But this leaker has been right in the past, and we're close to release now, so we think this is probably true.
How Have Nintendo Responded?
Nintendo haven't responded to this specific incident yet, but they addressed the issue of leaks in an investor call a few weeks ago, and they outline their plans to clamp down on security. Here's what they said in the investor call from June 2022, just a few weeks before this info was leaked:
We are taking a variety of initiatives to address information security threats and vulnerabilities. For the services we provide, initiatives include cooperating with outside specialists and conducting diagnostics to check for security issues.In addition, as part of our internal system for information security, we introduced the information security management system in 2017 and have set up our Information Security Committee. Policies for information management have been established, and we have adopted both physical and technical countermeasures. In addition, we work to raise awareness of information security among our employees through training and other means.
Those are good general plans, but what about this specific leaker? We don't know exactly how well protected @PKMNleak is, nor how well they put together their leaking account on Twitter, but the last big Nintendo leakers were forced to pay $150,000 in damages. So this was certainly a risk for the leaker to share.
We'll update you as soon as we hear more leaks, or a response from Nintendo. Until then, go and play the Game of the Year.