Nintendo is trying to force Discord to share Zelda leaker’s personal information

Nintendo has applied for a subpoena to force Discord to provide the company with the personal information of the person responsible for leaking the Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom art book a few months ago.

The details:

• In February 2023, Reddit user JustJulienOffic stated that a "friend" had sent them an "interesting look" at the art book for the upcoming Zelda title and published images from it, claiming that it would be over 200 pages long. The images showed concept art of Link, new game locations and enemies, and new characters. The site's moderators quickly removed the post and any mirrors, but the images continued to circulate online. The same images were shared via a Discord server, which has also been hit with a DMCA notice. Nobody knew if the images were genuine at the time, but it now appears that they were, as Nintendo is pursuing further legal action.
• According to TorrentFreak, Nintendo has applied for a subpoena at a California district court to force Discord to "disclose the identity, including the name(s), address(es), telephone number(s), and e-mail address(es) of the user Julien#2743, who is responsible for posting infringing content that appeared" on the messaging platform. If Discord is legally required to hand over the information, Nintendo is likely to pursue additional legal action against the leaker, especially given the company's tendency to keep its in-development games under wraps until release. Aside from an official gameplay demo from series producer Eiji Aonuma and a confirmation of a $70 price tag, the publisher has been quiet about the darker franchise entry's content ahead of its May 12 release date.
• Nintendo has a long history of going after fans of its IPs for a variety of reasons, receiving massive backlash over the last decade for its apparent abuse of the copyright system to claim YouTube videos that include gameplay or simply cover one of its games. In December 2022, the company removed a video from the DidYouKnowGaming YouTube gaming documentary channel for discussing a canceled Zelda game called "Heroes of Hyrule." The channel challenged the strike, and the video was reinstated as a result. During the Wii U's lifespan, Nintendo also used YouTube's easily abused copyright-striking system against those who dared to use even short clips of its releases, though this tactic stopped after many pointed out that it had no legal ground to stand on due to fair use laws.

Other Nintendo news:

• Nintendo of Europe has updated its policy on Joy-Con drift, allowing anyone in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and the European Economic Area (EEA) to receive free repairs if their controllers suffer from the issue, even if they are out of warranty.
• Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the Mario series, has stated that "mobile apps will not be the primary path of future Mario games," confirming that Mario will not appear in any future mobile titles following the mixed reception of the plumber's three releases since 2016's Super Mario Run.