Nintendo says it has increased security following 2020 “gigaleak”

An unprecedented amount of confidential game data was leaked online in 2020

Following the Nintendo “gigaleak” back in 2020, which saw a vast amount of stolen data leaked onto the internet including prototype versions of classic Nintendo titles and N64 games, Nintendo has suggested it increased its security measures to prevent anything similar happening in the future.

The massive data breach saw titles such as Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Yoshi’s Island and even some unreleased titles leaked onto the internet.

It also reportedly contained confidential internal documentation regarding Nintendo DS, Wii and the China-exclusive iQue amongst other consoles, showing the systems’ working processes and the development processes that led to their creation and maintenance.

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According to Video Games Chronicle, the leak was suspected to come from iQue, the Chinese brand created to release Nintendo content, as well as BroadOn, a third-party company contracted by Nintendo to develop hardware and software for the Wii console.

Until now, Nintendo had not made an official statement or response in relation to the massive leak, but on Tuesday (June 28) they referred to the incident in response to a question asked at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Japan.

Twitter user NStyles has kindly transcribed the meeting and when using the social media platform’s in-built translation feature from Japanese to English, we can garner that Nintendo was asked during the meeting where it stands on iQue, especially when it is considered that “some people believe that iQue may have been the source of information leaks”.

In response, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said: “The PC and mobile games market in China is large, but dedicated games consoles are not so large. Together with Tencent, we want to continue to popularise them. We are working with experts on information leaks. We have also introduced new security management.”

Given that Nintendo is one of the most notably aggressive with protecting its intellectual property, it was surprising at the time that a data leak of such scale had happened at all, without public repercussions.

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In other news, the latest beta for Overwatch 2 has started with a bunch of hero changes, but those that play the healer Mercy are feeling particularly hard done by.

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