Nintendo subpoenas Discord in pursuit of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom leaker

Months after the release of leaked images lifted from an unreleased art book for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo has subpoenaed Discord looking to identify the leaker.

As TorrentFreak spotted, a lawyer representing Nintendo of America filed a DMCA subpoena application on April 7. The notice specifically mentions the leaked art book and calls for Discord to disclose the identity of the user who shared it via the unofficial Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Discord server. The company is calling for names, addresses, phone numbers, and/or email addresses tied to the account – anything that can be used to identify the user, who seems to have deleted their Discord account. 

"The information obtained will be used only for the purposes of protecting the rights granted to NOA under the Copyright Act," the notice says. 

Attached conversations between Nintendo and Discord's legal teams confirm that Nintendo of America previously filed DMCA complaints requesting the leaked images be pulled. And as if there was ever any doubt that leakers just can't help themselves, comments from Nintendo note that following the leak, some Discord users had "been assigned the role of 'The PDF Pirate' which identifies them as a source for PDF files of the infringing art book images." You've got to give leakers one thing: they are bold.

Nintendo is fiercely protective of its IP and famously litigious. It's actively taking down videos of a multiplayer mod for Breath of the Wild, so it's no surprise to see it acting on such a big leak for such a significant upcoming game. It isn't the first games company to subpoena Discord on the hunt for leakers, either. Last year, Genshin Impact publisher Cognosphere sent its lawyers after a prolific leaker, and Discord caught another subpoena in the process. 

With official Tears of the Kingdom details now rolling in, fans have worked out where every part of the new demo takes place.