Game Freak confirms large-scale data breach for more than 2,600 employees and contractors

Pokémon developer Game Freak has revealed that it has suffered a data breach that resulted in the personal information of thousands of employees and contractors being compromised.

In a notice (PDF), released on October 10, 2024, Game Freak revealed that an unauthorized party gained access to its servers in August 2024 and accessed the personal information of employees and contractors. The breach stole and leaked the personal information of at least 2,600 current and former employees, including their names and company email addresses, among other things.

The company says it will contact employees individually, and anyone who cannot be contacted will be able to contact a hotline set up to answer questions. It also says that the affected servers have been inspected and rebuilt, and that further security measures will be implemented to prevent this from happening in the future.

The news comes amid an alleged leak of Game Freak information, including development resources, beta details and more. Large amounts of apparently leaked data have been made available online on social media sites and forums. Neither Game Freak nor Nintendo have commented on the apparent leaks, and at this stage they have not been confirmed as real.

Game Freak is best known for developing the main series Pokémon games, having acted as the primary developer for every title in the series except Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, which were developed by ILCA under Game Freak’s supervision. The company has about 200 permanent employees, but contracts thousands of additional workers to work on games like Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the best game that barely works.

In addition to working on Pokémon, the developer has also worked on a number of smaller titles outside of the series, some of which are available on other consoles and platforms. Indeed, Game Freak is working on a non-Pokémon action-adventure game currently alongside Private Division, a subsidiary of Take-Two that focuses on independent games.