Pokémon Sword and Shield leaker outed, blacklisted by Nintendo

In November 2019 a series of leaks spoiled many of the surprises inside Pokémon Sword and Shield. One of the organizations implicated in those leaks, a Portuguese website called FNintendo, has been identified and blacklisted by Nintendo.

FNintendo explains in its statement that an early copy of Sword and Shield was given to a freelancer to provide coverage. That freelancer then leaked the information online. The organization is nonetheless responsible for the infraction.

“We fully respect Nintendo’s decision to cancel the confidentiality agreement between our companies as a result of this breach of trust,” reads a statement issued on the FNintendo website, “and accept that we will no longer receive products from Nintendo, nor will we be invited to attend their events.

“We want to apologise to Nintendo and The Pokémon Company, and to our readers for letting them down.”

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company both have been particularly aggressive in tracking down leaks related to Sword and Shield, which revealed a list of the game’s characters and Gigantamax forms prematurely. At least one lawsuit is ongoing. In December, a Seattle judge issued a subpoena to compel Discord, 4chan, and others to give up personally identifiable information related to leaks posted on their platforms.