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Nintendo Asked Discord to Identify the Person Behind the 2025 Pokémon Leak

Nintendo of America asked for a DMCA subpoena seeking information to identify the Discord account GameFreakOUT, which it accused of posting unreleased Pokémon materials. The request was not a court finding or a lawsuit against a known individual.
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Nintendo of America asked a U.S. court on April 18, 2025, to issue a subpoena requiring Discord to identify the user account GameFreakOUT. Nintendo alleged that the account posted confidential, unreleased Pokémon materials in a Discord server called FreakLeak. The filing was a request for identifying information—not a court ruling that the account holder was responsible, and not a damages lawsuit against a named person.

What Nintendo asked Discord to do

Nintendo of America’s April 18, 2025 filing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California invoked Section 512(h) of the U.S. Copyright Act, the DMCA provision used to seek a subpoena for information identifying an alleged infringer. Nintendo asked the clerk to issue and sign a proposed subpoena directed to Discord. The filing states: “NOA respectfully requests that the Clerk expeditiously issue and sign the proposed DMCA Subpoena pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 512(h)(4).” (Nintendo’s filing, reproduced by Midpage.)

The proposed subpoena sought information sufficient to identify the person behind GameFreakOUT, including the account holder’s name, address, telephone number, email address, and IP address. (Proposed subpoena, reproduced by Midpage.)

What Nintendo alleged about GameFreakOUT

Nintendo alleged that GameFreakOUT posted confidential, unreleased Pokémon materials to a Discord server called FreakLeak. That is the claim in Nintendo’s filing, not a finding established by a court. The filing named Pokémon Legends: Arceus as an example of Pokémon game materials in which Nintendo claimed copyright rights; that reference does not establish that the game itself was the specific subject of the alleged posts. (Nintendo’s filing, reproduced by Midpage.)

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The filing supports the narrower claim that Nintendo accused the account of posting material it considered infringing. It does not establish that GameFreakOUT hacked Game Freak, originated the leak, or was responsible for every item circulated in it. Nor does the information established here provide a reliable figure for how much data the leak contained.

Was Nintendo suing the Pokémon leaker?

Not in this filing. Nintendo asked for a DMCA subpoena directed to Discord so it could seek the identity of an anonymous account holder. That identity-disclosure step is distinct from a lawsuit against a known person, a court’s decision on whether infringement occurred, or a damages judgment. The filing does not by itself prove the allegations.

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What happened after the request?

The later procedural outcome has not been established here. The available information does not confirm whether the clerk or court issued the subpoena, whether Discord complied, whether Nintendo identified the account holder, or whether Nintendo later filed a lawsuit against that person. Engadget reported on April 21, 2025, that Discord had not publicly addressed the request at that time; that report does not establish Discord’s current position. (Engadget, April 21, 2025.)

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