Japanese online game developer Sport Freak has publicly acknowledged suffering a cyber attack in August, revealing that hackers successfully breached its systems and stole source code and unreleased game designs.
Sport Freak is most renowned as the co-owner and developer behind the iconic Pokémon franchise, whose journey commenced in 1996 with the release of Pokémon Red and Green for the Nintendo Game Boy.
Since its inception, the gaming studio has successfully released numerous titles within the Pokémon franchise across various Nintendo platforms, including the 3DS, Switch, and mobile devices such as iOS and Android, with the notable exception of Pokémon Quest.
Leaks of upcoming Pokémon video games, reportedly developed by Game Freak, began circulating over the weekend across various online platforms, including leak websites, Discord channels, and social media forums such as Reddit and X.
While Sport Freak has remained silent on the leaked game details, it has confirmed that the private data of its workforce, contractors, and former employees – including retirees and former business associates – was compromised in the breach.
“Sport Freak Inc. Discloses the unfortunate incident in which an unauthorised third-party gained access to our systems in August 2024, resulting in the breach of our employees’ personal information.
“We sincerely regret any distress or disruption this may have caused, affecting multiple events.”
The compromised information includes individuals’ full names and firm-assigned email addresses, thereby reducing the threat level to mainly phishing and targeted brute-force attacks.
The individuals affected by the incident were notified personally, although those who remained untraceable saw their details publicly disclosed by Sport Freak on their website.
After a thorough examination by Sport Freak, it appears that the personal data of Pokémon participants remains unaffected, and the company’s investigation into the breach has been completed. Additionally, measures have been implemented to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Earlier this month, Canadian online game developer Digital Extremes informed its group of gamers that a cyberattack could potentially trigger delays in patch releases and additional content for existing Outlast games as well as upcoming titles.
The incident was subsequently attributed to the Nitrogen ransomware group, which boasted that it had compromised Pink Barrels’ systems, pilfering a massive 1.8 terabytes of sensitive data.
As of this writing, no malicious individuals have taken responsibility for the attack on Sport Freak.
