Nintendo Officially Addresses This Week’s Crimson Collective Hack

Nintendo is once again in the hot seat concerning leaks. Following the massive Pokemon leak, the Crimson Collective, a known hacking organization, targeted Nintendo, leading to allegations of data breaches. Nintendo has finally broken its silence and released an official statement regarding the leak and what was compromised. Nintendo fans and players have speculated about the hack, painting alarming pictures. However, Nintendo’s response has seemingly diffused this talk and put fans’ minds at ease, even if the response is somewhat vague.

Nintendo’s focus seems to be maintaining calm amid the flurry of rumors surrounding this hack. The official statement came on October 15th, several days after the cyber attack allegedly happened late last week. The group boasted of breaching Nintendo’s systems and accessing internal data, and now Nintendo has shed light on what this means.

“We have not confirmed any leak of personal information, and there has been no leak of development or business information.” Some external servers that display Nintendo’s website were defaced, but the company said there was no evidence of damage to customers or intrusion into the company.”

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If this is true, then most of the damage will be on Nintendo’s end and not on its consumers. Personal data would not be something included in this report if the Crimson Collective only accessed Nintendo files. The distinction of “external servers” means that even if the website’s public-facing layer was tampered with, sensitive internal information, such as customer details, source code, and proprietary assets, was likely unaffected or compromised.

Still, the timing couldn’t be worse. Earlier that same week, The Pokemon Company and Game Freak faced a massive leak from a supposed hacker behind the infamous Pokemon Teraleak. It contained an overwhelming number of reveals for the series’ future. Pokemon’s Generation 10, Generation 11, and a multiregional MMO game were detailed in the released documents.

At this time, Nintendo, Game Freak, or The Pokemon Company has not commented on this massive leak. It may seem odd that no statement has been made, but one has to remove the type of information compromised. Game concepts and plans are all internal development items, whereas the hack from the Crimson Collective may have contained personal data from players. This second hack needed reassurance from Nintendo; otherwise, users would fear their information was floating around on the internet.

Leaks and hacks are common in the gaming industry. Considering the technological aspect of the hobby, it is not surprising to see it targeted by people with hacking skills. Whether it’s being the first to get a “scope” or just maliciously looking for information, there are drives to both. Revealing information about a highly anticipated game first can be a huge boost in followers, whereas malicious hackers target gaming companies for their massive user base. Companies often offer responses to these breaches, but the type of response differs based on what information has been targeted and leaked.

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