Former Nintendo employees have claimed that the console maker has a dedicated team of people for investigating leaks.
Nintendo has faced plenty of of leaks in recent years, ranging from details on unannounced games to the full reveal of upcoming hardware. Speaking on their Kit & Krysta YouTube channel, former Nintendo employees Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang have shared an inside perspective on why leaks are more common than ever, and what the company is doing to stop them.
According to the duo, Nintendo has always placed great importance on “surprising and delighting” fans, with secrecy considered a crucial part of its marketing strategy. The rise of leaks, however, has disrupted this approach, leading to inflated fan expectations and inevitable disappointment when long-rumored announcements fail to materialize. “When they finally do make the announcement and none of these things are in it, people are ultimately disappointed,” Ellis explained.
Kit & Krysta mentioned that Nintendo takes leaks extremely seriously, revealing that the company employs a dedicated, highly skilled team whose sole job is to investigate leaks. “They are very elite. They’re very good at their jobs, and they will solve these cases,” Yang said, noting that investigations can take weeks or even years, but the source of a leak is almost always discovered. Employees caught leaking information are “dealt with swiftly,” reinforcing Nintendo’s zero-tolerance approach.
While first-party leaks are rare due to strict internal controls, many recent leaks appear to come from external partners, such as manufacturers or third-party developers, where Nintendo has less oversight. This has made the problem harder to contain, especially as fan interest in major announcements like the Switch 2 has reached a fever pitch.
Despite the growing difficulty, Nintendo is unlikely to “wave the white flag” and accept leaks as inevitable. Instead, Ellis and Yang suggest the company may need to evolve its strategy, possibly by experimenting with shorter-notice announcements or fake leaks to catch leakers in the act.
