FNintendo issues statement on Pokemon Sword/Shield leak
Earlier today, Nintendo issued a statement surrounding the Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield leaks. As previously mentioned, information about the games – specifically unknown creatures – were made public prior to being announced. FNintendo admitted that it had received an early copy from Nintendo, and one of its reviewers unfortunately leaked images online.
Following up on Nintendo’s note, FNintendo has published a statement of its own. You can read it in full below.
At the beginning of November, a series of off-screen photographs leaked multiple new and unannounced Pokémon from Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield. We want to take this opportunity to openly admit to our readers that FNintendo was responsible for leaking some of these photos.
Nintendo offered us a copy of the game for review purposes, with clear embargo guidelines, to which we agreed. This copy was then sent to one of our reviewers, who leaked the information. Following the investigation, FNintendo severed its relationship with this reviewer.
Our relationship with Nintendo Portugal dates back 11 years, but our part in this leak is a clear breach of the confidentiality agreement between us, and, as a result, a total breach of trust with Nintendo.
We recognise it is impermissible to break embargo guidelines and we failed to handle the review materials with sufficient care. We fully respect Nintendo’s decision to cancel the confidentiality agreement between our companies as a result of this breach of trust, and accept that we will no longer receive products from Nintendo, nor will we be invited to attend their events.
We want to apologise to Nintendo and The Pokémon Company, and to our readers for letting them down.
