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Nintendo has begun a legal hunt after a Discord user supposedly leaked images from Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s art book.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will release May 12, and so far, Nintendo has been like a locked box concerning details of this much-anticipated next installment. However, despite the publisher’s best efforts, a Discord user allegedly posted images from the art book for this next Zelda title, ruining one of Nintendo’s best-kept secrets.
The art book contains information and images of everything players can find in the valleys and mountains of the upcoming Hyrulean adventure. Clearly, Nintendo wanted players to discover all these mysteries naturally as they were playing the game, rather than artificially through a leak.
As retribution for the breach of privacy, Nintendo is now seeking out the leaker’s identity. Since the leak originated on Discord, “Nintendo of America is requesting the attached proposed subpoena that would order Discord Inc. (“Discord”) to disclose the identity, including the name(s), address(es), telephone number(s), and e-mail addresses(es) of the user Julien#2743, who is responsible for posting infringing content that appeared at the following Discord channel Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom”, Nintendo of America said in the subpoena request.
Pandora’s box
While there’s still a great deal about Tears of the Kingdom that remains tantalizingly unknown, Nintendo has gradually shown fans more about what this new title offers over the last few months.
In a 13-minute gameplay demonstration on YouTube (opens in new tab), the producer of the Legend of Zelda series, Eiji Aonuma shared that work on Tears of the Kingdom is complete, along with some exciting gameplay footage.
Throughout the walkthrough, Aonuma outlined what’s new in this next title, and how players can interact with the expansive, open world. One unique feature is Link’s Recall ability; allowing players to rewind time for particular objects. The gameplay video shows Aonuma using this power to reach some of the Sky Islands.
What’s more, there is also a fantastic new ability called Fuse, which allows players to combine objects to create unique weapons with different strengths. It seems like there are a ton of new features to enjoy in Tears of the Kingdom, so if you haven’t seen the leaks yet, it’s probably best to avoid them for maximum fun and mystery.
Same problem, different leaker
This isn’t the first time Discord has been at the center of Nintendo leak. In 2019, former employees took pictures of the then-unreleased title Pokémon Sword and Shield and shared them over social media platforms like Reddit and Discord.
These photos depicted details of the strategy guide, which included new features like Gigantamax forms of certain Pokémon. As you can probably guess, Nintendo wasn’t too fond of this breach of trust and took the leakers to court (opens in new tab), with each defendant paying $150,000 in damages.
It’s more than likely that the Tears of the Kingdom leaker will meet the same fate. Despite the art book leaks not being the most earth-shattering of leaks, Nintendo will likely want to take legal action as a preventative measure to deter future would-be leakers. Spoiling video game information tends to cause more harm than good. It’s better to wait for the release date like everyone else rather than jump the gun and spoil the thrilling mysteries hidden in new releases.