Google Employee Accused of Major Nintendo Leaks

A worker at Google might be behind a series of major leaks involving games developed by Nintendo or coming to its platforms. The Nintendo leaks involve Google employees’ access to YouTube, its video streaming and hosting service.

Leaks and rumors have always been a problem for the game industry. Leaks of upcoming releases can upend a carefully calibrated marketing plan, while more serious leaks involving business information or privileged data can even affect investor confidence or a company’s relationships with partners and press. Nintendo is no exception to leaks, with leakers on social media amassing followers and attention by hinting at future releases. Even now, leakers and insiders have revealed the possible existence of a new Nintendo project from the Mario Party developers.

Now a new report published by 404 Media suggests that at least one component of the leaking scene involves an employee (or employees) working for Google via its video service YouTube. Recent months have seen the leak of major companies’ streaming agendas, and the YouTube administration is actively seeking those who might be responsible.

YouTube Worker Might Be Responsible for Nintendo Direct Leaks

404 Media’s report is based on a leak not from a game company but from Google itself, in the form of an internal database of privacy and security issues tracked over a period of six years. The issues and incidents were reported internally by Google employees, and reveal a variety of issues and incidents ranging from technical vulnerabilities in third-party software to glitches in Google-operated services that accidentally revealed private or confidential information. The relevant incident involved a Google employee accessing private videos on Nintendo’s official YouTube account, using the access to leak information about the company’s upcoming announcements. Nintendo hosts its highly popular Nintendo Direct broadcasts exclusively via YouTube.

The report did not specify when the leaking incident occurred, but multiple Nintendo Direct broadcasts have been leaked ahead of time. As such, the report could refer to any incident in the last several years. The report does shed light on a possible method used by various anonymous leakers to reveal everything from PlayStation State of Play broadcasts to footage from Grand Theft Auto 6‘s trailer. Workers who have internal access to corporate accounts on YouTube would check or view private or unlisted videos uploaded ahead of time by company staff (which were scheduled to go live at an appointed time), then leak the information via social media or into their communities.

Given how damaging leaks can be in some circumstances, it’s no surprise that companies are on the hunt for leakers, but the report highlights that it’s not just insiders working at the companies themselves that pose a potential leaking threat. YouTube itself is a potential outlet for such incidents, thanks in part to the sheer demand for early information about new game releases and reveals.