Leaks constitute some of the backbones of the gaming industry and the gaming news cycle. However, taking on a venture on such often comes with its set of dangers as the companies that own the information that is leaked can pull all the stops on taking down whoever leaked anything about an upcoming game before its release. Such is the case with a The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom leaker who has been recently become a target of Nintendo’s legal team.
As you know, Tears of the Kingdom is a highly anticipated game that’s set to release on May 12. However, some fans have been able to get their hands on a special edition artbook since February. This was subsequently reported by Eurogamer, which disclosed the details of the artbook, including new characters, enemies, enemy types, and locations, alongside other exciting tidbits.
Nintendo, very aware of the situation and how much it meant to them, took action through the legal route in a prompt manner. According to a report from TorrentFreak, the company issued a DMCA notice to Discord, targeting a channel dubbed “Tears of the Kingdom Official Discord Server.” Eight minutes after the takedown notice was sent to Discord, the platform acknowledged the complaint and told Nintendo that the content “would be removed promptly.”
Still, it wasn’t enough, as the The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom discord was still distributing content. In fact, Nintendo escalated things by requesting Discord for the takedown of the server as “some members have been assigned the role of ‘ The PDF Pirate’ which identifies them as a source for PDF files of the infringing art book images.” While Discord issued a warning to the server, it still told Nintendo to file a trademark complaint against the server.
So, that’s exactly what Nintendo did. On Friday, April 4, 2023, Nintendo of America’s attorneys applied for a DMCA subpoena in a California District Court. In this new escalation of events, Nintendo is now sending a subpoena that would order Discord to disclose the identity of a particular Discord user known as Julien#2743. This data includes name, address, e-mail address, and telephone number.
According to information gathered by TF, the person targeted by this subpoena is none other than the leaker who posted the information in the first place. Additionally, this person is also responsible for operating the “Official” Tears of the Kingdom Discord channel. The request states that the information will be used only for the purposes of protecting the rights granted to Nintendo of America under the Copyright Act.
