Game Freak, a Japanese development studio founded in 1989 and best known for the Pokémon series of games, has suffered from a monumental leak that has seen past, present, and future projects blown wide open. This staggering breach reportedly occurred in August 2024, but it’s only now that the data is surfacing online.
The Game Freak leaks have revealed an estimated 1 TB of data, spanning everything from the source code for older titles to the codenames for upcoming Pokémon games.
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In a report first published by Nintendo Life, it was claimed that Game Freak had suffered from a massive leak that had seen hundreds of confidential files broadcast online. Now, Game Freak has published a statement confirming that the breach is accurate, stating that 2,606 employees were impacted.
The firm has stressed that the vulnerability that led to the leak has already been patched up, but the data is changing hands online – and there’s no getting it back.
One of the most tantalising pieces of information to come from the leak concerns the next generation of Pokémon games. In the files, references to ‘K’ and ‘N’ are revealed, along with a project codenamed ‘Synapse’, which some users have claimed is a Pokémon MMO being pieced together in collaboration with another, unnamed studio.
Retro fans have started poring over leaked source code for DS-era Pokémon games like Black and White 2, HeartGold, and SoulSilver. These particular leaks have caused never-before-seen images and cut assets to surface. Some of these images concern concept art for starter Pokémon, and characters that never saw the light of day.
For the full breakdown of leaked Pokémon characters, check out PokeLeaks on Reddit.
Elsewhere, eagle-eyed gamers have uncovered references to Legends ZA and even some details about what’s coming next for Switch 2.
Even now, this story continues to develop.
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A MMO is everyone’s Dream for Pokémon or 1 of them. A reboot could work but it would have to be in a different art style like go back to the original also exploring other things like space would be great and Arceus the prequel was great do stories like that. A remake of Red and Emerald with the original art style those games had but with cel shaded visuals for gameplay and 2D anime cutscenes with voice acting would be amazing. A Pokémon game exploring space and new Pokémon there would be amazing too since all we know is Deoxys and Jirachi. A Atlus made Pokémon would have been cool also a Persona X Pokémon.