Talking Point: Just How Damaging Is This Big Pokémon Leak?

...that "Typhlosion of interest" crack was on purpose, wasn't it? 😏

It’s the biggest entertainment franchise in the world - this leak isn’t going to damage it at all.

I hope these hackers will get their fair punishment and do something useful with their skills in the future instead.

Celebi and Dialga just stood by and did nothing.

I just really hope there aren't any major spoilers for upcoming games like new Pokemon, forms, story.
Or at the very least I hope that I'll be able to avoid them cause I prefer to discover that stuff on my own

So you are pretty much saying "this is fine, zero impact to the PCI and the brand!". That is naive, and that's being kind.

I think the Typhlosion one was just overblown by the internet. Sure it’s weird but nothing out of the ordinary from any Greek mythological tale you haven’t read in high school before.
It’s mostly for the lols, likes and shock.
Haven’t read the other ones though.

The source code statements make me wonder how the more technical folk on the Internet will scrutinize and ridicule their code if it's not immaculately written. I could see it as not good and bad. Good because they could optimize the hell out of it. Bad because it could shed light on how poorly it could run on the switch AND bolster claims of how sloppy they were when they released Scarlet/Violet.

@RubyCarbuncle it’s weird as in any other mythological adult lore/tale weird.

It is awful if interpreted narratively, but interesting if interpreted mythopoeically.

It’s just that we kind of forget that Pokémon often has this hidden adult layers beneath, really really hidden from the kiddie imagery. (Cubone’s mom comes to mind as one of the first)
But to be honest, like I said, nothing different from what you’ve read in literature classes when you were a kid.
They also feel like AI made. It’s just a bunch of random bullsht

How much damage has this leak done?
Probably less than the damage the company did to itself when they released the mainline switch games.

The whole thing will blow over relatively soon when people lose interest, and will be another reminder that these things rarely impact the majority of people with a casual interest in video games. Your social media and gaming websites may be filled with this news for a while but it rarely penetrates too deeply to the general public.

Pokemon will still remain the anime/video game franchise with the cute Pikachu.

It's shown me that the dev writers clearly want to be a lot more closer with pokemon than to just catch and battle with them lmao

As for the new game. I find it hilarious the leaker is saying he isn't gonna leak anything of it then proceeds to do just that but in small bites. Hes the obnoxious attention seeking type alright

If the leaker flip flopped and leaked the builds tPCi could lose 10s of millions of dollars.

Tears of the Kingdom piracy cost Nintendo Sixty million dollars for one single game, which is why piracy is considered a felony over there.

So far the leaker has only spoiled 2 forms and that Stunfisk is in the game with intent to stop there. It also seems like they aren’t touching Gen 10.

@MegaMari0 As a software developer I can tell you that it absolutely will be combed over and everyone will have an idea of a 'better' way to do things.

Don't believe me? Go look at Stack Overflow. 15 different answers to the same problem and everyone sniping at each other about it.

I hope the leaker knows the gigamaxxed bear they’re poking.

GF did dirty to my poor rodent/human Typhlosion 😭

@PepperMintRex they are too busy trying to screw Palworld

To be fair, if they only leak old files and dont make any money from it. (shrug)
Game Freak could have published this stuff themselves, but they didnt

@RobTheIII “Probably less than the damage the company did to itself when they released the mainline switch games.”

Gen 8 and 9 damaged GF reputation, all right. But those games made huge bank for them anyways. People unfortunately forgets quickly

First things first in terms of the lore. I've seen the timeline of the origin of the Pokémon world. It's a decently thought out piece (I'm not spoiling it here because I'm not Centro).

• In terms of the more adult stuff, I understand these stories are based on not only the bizarre Greek mythology but also on folklore tales of yokai but with the monsters being replaced with similar Pokémon counterparts. The keywords here being 'mythology' and 'folklore'. This would imply that these stories would fictional in the Pokémon world. None of the events actually happened but were told to forewarn the dangers of Pokemon (lest we forget PLA does expand on the theme of a time when humans and Pokemon didn't live together well). Anyway, my point is these events are non canon. They're dark and some lore can be dark but those stories were never going to canon for the sake of keeping the series. I have other thoughts but I'm not going to risk breaking site rules, cause arguments or go off topic.
• As someone who likes learning about the 'What ifs' on games and series (long after launch obviously) I have liked finding out about stuff that could have been.
• Not a fan of someone having access to details of future titles. Doesn't matter if they say they won't share details. Someone will leak that info somehow.
• Not a huge fan of any potential doxxing that could happen. Big company, small company it doesn't matter.
• I think this'll likely make TPC very wary of the fanbase. I doubt the hacking was done 'out of sheer passion for the series'

Said it on another sites comments but I hope the person or people stub their toe hard, fall down the stairs and involuntarily crap their pants on the way down.

Christ almighty, I will laugh 'til my lungs pop and eat a shoestring if GameFreak makes the Gen 2 starters available in Gen 10 except the Cyndaquil line, or if TPC cease the making of Typhlosion cards in the card game because of this leak.

It seems to me that the "dark mythology" was maybe originally planned for Legends Arceus and later scrapped (ghost Typhlosion + Arceus lore + shapeshifting + other dark PLA stuff like hisuian ghost Zoroark, etc). My guess is that someone probably took the homework too seriously in tone.

@Tyranexx Yeah, I have to agree with you there.. Unfortunately, this cyber world is becoming more and more like this every day and unless there's going to be actual HARSH punishments (Like shutting one's PC off completely by remote.. if that's even possible, but one can dream), it's only going to get worse.

Also, unrelated: Love the Halloween Boo profile pic you got going on!

@Savage_Joe The only ''damaged reputation'' GF got for Galar and Paldea is by the online community.. Like you said, offline people really don't care if a small minority online hate the games :'
I, for one, absolutely loved Gen 8 and 9 (Despite their flaws), much more so than previous Gens.. Although 4 and 5 will remain the GOAT for me forever

As to the official Pokemon lore written within Game Freak containing stuff disturbing to the public... the game lore is already filled with rather disturbing stuff if you want to read too hard into the Pokedex.
This child-friendly franchise is filled with Ghost Pokemon who like to do things to children. Drifblim likes to carry them off to the heavens, and Pallosand? likes to absorb their hands like a black hole.
I'm too old to have been able to have grown up playing Pokemon but that probably would've haunted me as a child if I was within the right age.
And Gengar are former humans according to the Moon Dex entry, as I recall!

Poor Typhlosion. They seem like nothing more than Japanese Fable writing prompt exercises, conceptual pieces used to generate further ideas and iterations, and never should have been left unsecured on their servers.

@jeleleven haha. Anonymity can make you pretty bold, rude, and arrogant sometimes.

I'm trying to avoid if all possible, so far so good, I'd really prefer not to be spoiled. I know Pokemon's had a mixed reputation of late, but leaks like this are awful and really affect the privacy and safety of employees & staff.

I really don't understand leak culture whatsoever. Trailers are exciting for snippets, but for the most part I'd rather be surprised as I'm playing by what's in a game rather than know the whole damn thing before it's even released. If people wouldn't eat this stuff up things like this would be less likely to happen.

I think people are going too far with their conclusions/thoughts going out of control with those Pokemon leaked stories based on some comments I read on Twitter(X.) (For example, they are acting as if like "every Typhlosion" and 'people who likes Typhlosion" is "bad" now. Well they didn't exactly say it like that, but it's heavily implied by the looks of it. Some of them are probably joking of course, but some of those comments seems really like they actually think that.)

Kinda funny. Kinda sad. Kinda weird. Still gonna keep buying the games, though.

@Tainaru
People: you write pokemon creepy pasta? Gross!!! How could you???
Game Freak: Hold my unoptimized beer

@Savage_Joe You're not Savage at this point, just a Pot-Shotter.

I feel like it depends on how much people latch onto all the admittedly weird design documents. I feel like other than that most of the stuff doesn't really matter all that much. Most of it just ends up being a curiosity to be archived.

let's just say I see Typhlosion in a diffrent light now.

I really think all of these leaks are why Nintendo doesn't announce development partners beforehand anymore. They're trying to stamp out leaks and are trying to keep as much info close to the chest as they can. Leaks are fun for fans. But you have to remember that they happen because someone who has trust placed in them is breaking that trust.

I kinda want to see that source code leaked, considering how bad the previous game was, I'm expecting yanderedev-like coding skills.

I'm not too sure how damaging the leaks are, but the behaviour of some of the Pokemon is going to have their HR department working overtime! Lordy.

> "you could argue that fans desperate to get their hands on [the developer version] aren't likely to buy legit copies when the game releases anyway."

I don't understand this statement, you'd think the people that want to get their hands on it are the biggest Pokemon fans, who will buy the next game. Of course, there's always outliers to anything, but odd thing to point out.

Only group I could think of that being the case would be hackers and modders that want to get some type of head start before it releases next year.

@JohnnyMind "(it's the kind of stuff I wish companies released themselves at least to some extent instead of the public getting to know them due to leaks)."
This is the important thing to take away from this leak. The fact that these leaks won't hurt the company goes to show that their hoarding of data is just purely based on greed. If companies were more open and just shared their old data, development concepts, and art, there wouldn't be such a thirst for hackers to rescue it from the depths of Gamefreak's archives. Yes, I know companies are not obligated to do this and most never will, which is why these Hackers are true heroes.

@8bit-Man The franchise won't be harmed, but I do worry about how people were doxxed. I know that opinions on the direction that the Pokemon game series has taken have elicited strong opinions from the fanbase and I do fear that some of the doxxed people may get death threats. For shame. I mean I'm someone who has strong opinions, but never in the world would I ever think of doing that. Unfortunately, I know not everyone is like me.

@Harmonie Yes, that is extremely sad and inexcusable. I hope the involved creators will be protected carefully. I feel very sorry for them.

It's Nintendo's CoD, they could make a game that intentionally turns your console into a live bomb and people would support it.

@BodkinDQ people thrive on getting more information, even if the information is faulty or involves cut content.

Just how damaging is this Teraleak/Freakleak? I'd say severely damaging to the games, upcoming stuff & the doxxed employees. No company can catch a break from leaks, I bet the next Nintendo System could come with free malware if you try to break it for modding or illegal dumping out of spite.

"That's a much larger topic for another day"
Pretty sure that IS the topic.

@Dubcheezy They din't release stuff because of greed? No...

Okay, bad comparison maybe, but I make music. I have some song on Spotify. I also have about 300 different "songs" (term used loosely) on my hard drive. Some of those are utter, utter trash. One can argue so are my releases, but that's a different argument. Anyways, they were things I tried out. Things nobody needs to hear, nor want to.

I already read some comments saying they can never look at Typhlosion the same again.

It's probably a word doc that should've been toased in the bin but hadn't. Probably nothing more. I doubt whoever came up with it has any recollection of even writing it.

Sometimes things are just doodles. Doodles that shoukd not be brought to light. Because it sullies people's experience.

I don't have any huge fans of my music, I am far from prolific enough, but if I had fans, and they would hear my trash files, they would be put off.

Nothing to do with greed.

I could spend a lot of time explaining why, but, in short, no, this is not important or consequential at all. It's basically the same thing as knowing that weird Pokemon fanfictions exists — which I already knew.

The worst thing about the leaks is that if you find something new out, you're literally profiting from the proceeds of crime. A lot of despicable outlets are making people an accessory to crime by reporting on specifics.

@JohnnyMind Sure, concept art and music is cool, even some thi gs that you might think a bit embarrasing, but I was talking almost literal trash. There is stuff that is simply not worth keeping, let alone sharing.

Maybe the devs here were asked to save even their most horrendous trash, and THAT got leaked now.

It's just not okay what happened here.

Already getting sick of Pokémon-related posts I get on FB, almost nothing but that damn Typhlosion lore, which got old very quickly.
Apparently (and unsurprisingly), it was misinterpreted by everyone who saw it.

I haven't really been following the leak. Its impossible to avoid the dark short stories, but the were more fascinating than anything else. It kind of cements the prospect that people and Pokémon just didn't know how to co-exist introduced in Pokémon Legends: Arceus. DYKG has been sharing the unused beta assets and Pokémon concepts for years anyway.

Anyway, I don't think there is a chance this will ultimately damage the brand that much. Parents are still going to buy Pokémon games and merchandise for their kids and be completely unaware of this. I mean, kids today are all about Skibidi Toilet, FNAF & Poppy's Playtime anyway. They're already exposed to much worse.