[As always, I post a disclaimer ahead of posts that are purely rumor. This post is from a supposed insider who knows the leaker personally.]
Yesterday was a huge day for Super Smash Bros. fans, especially those who prefer to have all their surprises revealed by Sakurai or through playing the game. Around six videos got leaked showcasing several new fighters, including Bowser Jr., Shulk, and the Duck Hunt Dog. These videos were quickly copyright-claimed through YouTube to have them removed, but the damage was already done. The videos are out in the wild and are being mirrored in tons of places.
Aside from the video leak, we also saw a huge image leak that showed several of the trophies from the Nintendo 3DS version of the game. Obviously it wasn’t a good day for Nintendo and that’s left many people wondering just how the cat got let out of the bag. According to a post on NeoGAF discussing the leaks, an anonymous person has stated that the leaks were from an internal employee at Nintendo of America who was capturing footage for ESRB rating.
“I have a source that has just informed me that Nintendo have identified the leaker. He has been fired and is being sued. He does not work at ESRB itself. He was an employee of NoA, who was sending materials to the ESRB. This is a completely internal leak.”
According to this poster, the leaker still has a final copy of the game for Nintendo 3DS, as Nintendo has not seized the game yet. This seems uncharacteristic of a company so focused on preserving secrets for fans that it flew a representative to Italy last year to re-acquire Pokemon X and Y cartridges that were released before the street date.
Either way, if the leak was internal and its been dealt with it’s unlikely that we’ll see any more leaks, regardless of whether or not this rumor is true.
