Game Freak, the developer of the popular Pokémon game series, was hit by a major data breach, resulting in the leak of thousands of sensitive documents containing personal information of employees and possibly details about upcoming Pokémon games. This breach has raised significant concerns about the privacy of employees and the security of company information.
In a statement released on Sunday, the company announced that hackers were able to access sensitive personal data of over 2000 Game Freak employees and acknowledged unauthorized access by a third party, leading to the exposure of personal information of current and former employees and contractors online.
Other content related to the company and the Pokémon series was also stolen and circulated online, although this content was not mentioned in Game Freak’s statement. According to the statement, the breached data includes full names, addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers. The company said it will contact affected employees where possible and confirmed that the security vulnerability causing the issue has been fixed. They stated in their statement:
“Those who cannot be contacted individually due to retirement or other reasons will be notified through this announcement, with a designated person available to answer inquiries related to this issue.”
“We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or concern this may cause to all parties involved,” said Game Freak.
Game Freak is one of the three companies with a dominant share in the Pokémon game series, also being the main developer of the main video game series since its inception in the nineties. Currently, they are working on various games, including Pokémon Legends Z-A for the Nintendo Switch, which was announced earlier this year and will be the second Pokémon Legends game after Pokémon Legends Arceus.
