In March, an employee at a Massachusetts GameStop leaked on Reddit that Nintendo was about to unveil its long-rumored Special Edition zelda Switch on an upcoming one Mini Direct for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Special editions like this are coveted collectibles, and news of one for the sequel to a best-seller would be huge for fans looking to buy a new system. This week GameStop fired the employee who leaked the news, and the employee claims he was told Nintendo helped make it happen.
Back in March, Mike who asked for it my city using only his first name, posted a photo of a GameStop computer screen showing that the inventory database had been updated with a secret new Switch model on the Tears of the Kingdom underreddit. It was the day before Nintendo’s big extended gameplay reveal for Tears of the Kingdomand the employee speculated in the post that it was a special edition zelda switch that had already leaked in December
In a phone interview with my city, Mike said he made the leak because he was a big fan of the franchise and wanted to give others a heads up should pre-orders go live that day. GameStop in particular has had issues with pre-order buyers in the past, although that wasn’t a reason for the leak Mike cited. On March 28th, Nintendo has unveiled a Special Edition Switchand the following day pre-orders went online at GameStop and other retailers.
At the time, the Reddit post didn’t get many positive votes, and the now-former employee said he doesn’t think it’s a big deal, as he didn’t technically leak any images or specific details about the console itself. and the Post itself was mostly speculative. Nintendo also tends to release dedicated consoles like this for most of its major releases such as: Pokemon.
Collector’s Editions are a big thing at GameStop
But on April 5, a week later, Mike said t he company blamed the leak on them. He comes in for his afternoon shift after checking out the new ones Super Mario Bros. Movie
Mike said he confessed immediately but claimed he wasn’t aware it was against the company’s social media policies. The district chief took her keys and put her on suspension, saying the ultimate punishment could vary between a first offense and termination. Ultimately it was the latter. And the now former employee holds Nintendo to blame.
When their manager called on April 11 to break the bad news, he said the manager “unofficially” told them that Nintendo had forced the company into action and called for the employee to be fired over the leak. mike shared the allegation on the Tears of the Kingdom underreddit Shortly after, he wrote, “Hope you’ve been able to get all your Switch preorders as I can’t get mine right now.”
GameStop and Nintendo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Another store clerk corroborated Mike’s statement my city, and said they were told by the same store manager in a separate conversation that Nintendo was the catalyst. “He was a great worker,” they said of Mike, adding that he was one of the frontrunners in the region when it came to hitting GameStop’s aggressive sales targets.
Whoever made the decision to fire her, the leaker would have been easy to spot. Her social media accounts, including Instagram, Twitter, and Twitch, were linked to her Reddit account in various ways and included multiple references to her general geographic location as well as selfies. “I wasn’t really trying to cover my tracks because I didn’t know it was going to lead to that,” Mike said my city.
As a large retailer staffed mostly by entry-level users and paying terrible hourly rates, GameStop has historically been a hotbed of major gaming leaks assassin‘S Believe To call of Duty. But it’s rare to hear of anyone actually being fired in connection with any of the leaks. Perhaps less surprisingly, this just happened to be related to a major Nintendo reveal. The Mario Manufacturer was on the Warpath against leaks for yearslast tried Subpoena Discord for the private data by someone who shared pictures of the Tears of the Kingdom Collector’s Edition art book.
When asked if the former GameStop employee ultimately managed to a zelda Switch pre-order, confirmed Mike. “But unfortunately I can’t afford it anymore because I don’t have work,” he said. Mike added that when his manager had to break the bad news over the phone, he pointed out how unfortunate it was: “This is your favorite company and now they hate you.”
