Nintendo is taking legal action against whoever leaked the art book for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in February 2023.
Fans are not surprised by Nintendo’s response to the Tears of the Kingdom art book leak
A massive leak for Nintendo’s upcoming title, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, caught the attention of many fans who were eagerly awaiting the game’s release just a few months ago. The leak in question was a PDF containing images of Tears of the Kingdom’s official art book, revealing every detail contained within.
Nintendo is now on the hunt for the person responsible for the leak. According to some sources, Nintendo has identified one user in particular who was making a fuss and spreading the leak as widely as possible. Nintendo is currently attempting to obtain this user’s identity in order to pursue additional legal action.
Those familiar with Nintendo and longtime fans of the company will be well aware of the company’s strict stance on piracy, illegal use and redistribution of its games, and violation of its terms of service. Installing custom firmware on your Nintendo Switch will almost always result in a permanent ban from their online services.
Many fans chimed in with sarcastic remarks directed at the leaker, whom they believe deserves what is coming to them as a result of their shameless attempt to take credit for and aggressively spread the leak. Several comments express Nintendo’s expected wrath in amusing statements, such as FT10LC’s ‘The spectral green hand of Nintendo is going to seal this guy away underground for thousands of years like Ganondorf.’
Other comments poke fun at Nintendo’s strict standards, such as Boss-429’s response, which jokes that Nintendo would go so far as “to sue a toddler for scribbling a Mario on a wall.” This is based on Nintendo’s long history of cracking down on unofficial products, such as non-commercial, free-to-play fan-made video game spin-offs, fan-made merchandise, and, in worst-case scenarios, fan art.
Even though many gamers in the community have been upset by Nintendo’s strict actions in the past, they aren’t surprised that the company has hired bounty hunters this time and, for the most part, agree with the action. User JunglistTactics even said, “Good luck, mate, Nintendo is like a rabid honey badger when it comes to these issues.”
Several claims made throughout the discussion suggest that the individual in question is not even the original source of the leak. However, because they attempted to publicize it and claim credit for the entire situation, Nintendo caught them red-handed. slymario2416 pointed out that Nintendo will almost certainly dish out some of the harshest punishments possible, writing, “having Nintendo’s lawyers after you must be terrifying lol. They take their IP and brand VERY seriously and the person that leaked the art book kinda set precedent since Nintendo stuff doesn’t usually leak that early or in that capacity. So RIP leaker”
As of now, it appears that this case is far from over, and that the leaker has a lot of trouble ahead of them. If not a free advertisement campaign for what not to do with unreleased material from big name companies, the Tears of the Kingdom art book scandal has served as a stark reminder of the dire consequences of seeking your fifteen minutes of fame on the Internet.
