Well, that was fast. Someone had been providing the internet with leak upon leak of Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield. It seems, however, that this will all be coming to an end, as Nintendo has apparently identified the leaker behind all the spoilers.

Reportedly, there was a chain of investigation that led to the leaker’s identity being discovered. One of the posted pictures seems to have contained an image of a Discord profile pic. From there, Nintendo followed the lead to the person’s YouTube channel, then to their Facebook. They now have a name to connect with the person who’s posted spoilers of almost the entire game. While this information isn’t public, the theory is that the leaker was an overseas reviewer who got an early copy.

Nintendo used DMCA Takedown!

DMCA notices are abounding now, as the company is taking down any and all images they can get their hands on. However, there are so many that Nintendo has actually hired a law firm to handle the sheer number of tweets from the leaker. They seem to be going after any Twitter and YouTube accounts that have posted a lot of the spoiled images, but we’re keeping an eye out to see if they contact websites such as Nintendo Enthusiast.

This isn’t the end for all the spoilers, though. Centro Pokémon Leaks (@centroleaks on Twitter) has been one of the largest centralized leak accounts on Twitter, and they’ve come up with a system for posting leaks as the drama has unfolded. As of this writing, they’re posting Imgur links instead of putting images directly on their Twitter feed. This lets other leakers retweet the images and ensure that spoilers are still available.

I have not been above sharing spoilers with our readers, and they’ve been a hot topic among our team in general. While I can’t speak for everyone, I personally found the leaks to be the most exciting marketing for the game. Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have been impressively tight-lipped about Sword and Shield, going to such lengths as making people who try the demo sign NDAs, not handing out review copies, and just plain drip-feeding information. I wasn’t hyped for the game until I saw the “final boss” Pokémon, and now I’ll probably be getting the game new at launch instead of used and on sale later on.

What about you? Who do you think the leaker is? Is it you? Is it me? Let us know!

[Via 1 / Via 2]