GameStop employee who shared Tears of the Kingdom leak says he was fired "at Nintendo's request"

(Image credit: Nintendo)

A former GameStop employee says he was fired after sharing a leak related to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom because Nintendo caught wind of the situation and "requested" his termination.

Back in March, the employee shared an image purportedly of an internal GameStop inventory screen suggesting a limited edition Tears of the Kingdom-themed Nintendo Switch OLED console would soon be announced. Of course, that turned out to be accurate, but the GameStop employee says his "very educated guess" cost him his job.

"Got fired from my job at GameStop today at nintendos request due to my Zelda leak," says the employee. "Hopefully all of you were able to get your switch pre-orders in as now I will not be able to get mine 💔."

The employee told Kotaku that he was fired about two weeks after he shared the leaked image to Reddit. According to his account, he arrived for his afternoon shift only to be confronted by his district manager and another supervisor. He then fessed up to the charges but said he wasn't aware he was breaking any rules. Nonetheless, he says he was suspended and then officially terminated shortly thereafter.

A store manager allegedly told the employee during his termination that Nintendo had asked that he be fired. "They just requested for me to be terminated or their contract with GameStop was in 'jeopardy', he says in a Reddit update.

In another Reddit post, the former employee says he isn't ruling out the possibility that GameStop alone had made the decision to fire him and was simply blaming Nintendo. However, he also says he has "decent credibility" that that isn't the case.

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.