Update: The website that goes down has released its statement. We shared that at the bottom of our original article.
Original article (Tuesday 11 Feb, 2020 09:45 GMT): Building until it is released Pokémon Sword and Shield last year, certain game items including Pokémon that had not yet been released were released online. Pictures and information spread like wildfire, and it was easy to accidentally stumble across content that wasn't deleted before the game's launch.
Back in November, there were rumors that Nintendo might have arrested a (person) responsible for the leak, and the following month we learned that the Pokémon Company was taking legal action by filing a lawsuit.
Today, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company shared a joint statement on the matter. You can read it in full below:
A joint statement is for Nintendo and The Pokémon Company
In early November, Nintendo pointed to a number of gameplay footage revealing new and unannounced Pokémon from Pokémon sword and Pokémon Shield. The images were posted online and Nintendo, in partnership with The Pokémon Company, quickly identified the person responsible for the leak, and acted quickly.
These Pokémon were billed by a reviewer on the Portuguese website FNintendo, who had received the first copy of the game for review purposes. Both he and FNintendo failed to handle confidentiality, resulting in a clear breach of a confidentiality agreement between Nintendo and the news agency. Because of this, Nintendo will no longer work with FNintendo.
Nintendo will always protect its intellectual property and products. Not only does the leak hurt Nintendo, but thousands of hard-working players bring games to the market, as well as millions of fans around the world who look forward to news and surprises.
Surprise and entertain the players through the new experience the love shared with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. We will pursue every means to preserve the surprise of future Pokémon title players.
Of course, the leak didn't seem to hurt the success of Pokémon Sword and Shield in the end. The two articles replaced the amazing 16 million copies in six weeks.
Update: FNintendo & # 39; s statement:
To our readers,
At the beginning of November, a series of off-screen images are launching new and unreleased Pokémon on Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield. We want to take this opportunity to acknowledge in our readers that FNintendo is responsible for rewarding some of these images.
Nintendo gave us a copy of the game for review purposes, and clear embargo guidelines, which we agreed on. The copy was then sent to one of our reviewers, which is very detailed. Following the investigation, FNintendo severed its relationship with this update.
Our relationship with Nintendo Portugal dates back 11 years, but our part in this leak violates the privacy agreement between us, and, as a result, completely violates Nintendo's trust. We note that it is not permissible to violate the embargo guidelines and we have failed to handle the visual materials carefully.
We fully respect Nintendo's decision to cancel the confidentiality agreement between our companies for this breach of trust, and accept that we will no longer receive Nintendo products, and will not be invited to attend their events.
We want to apologize to Nintendo and The Pokémon Company, and to our readers for bringing them down.
FNintendo
