A GameStop employee wanted to help Zelda fans get a new console. Now he is facing the consequences, which are shaking his whole life.
Leaks and premature information are often a double-edged sword in the gaming scene. While some fans are excited about every little advance information, the corresponding companies usually think very little of such leaks because it distracts from major reveal events. Companies do not appreciate when no one is interested in their sophisticated, carefully crafted presentation that showcases their product in the best possible light, just because a pixelated photo has been circulating online two days earlier.
Some companies, and especially Nintendo, demand consequences for such leaks. This was something a GameStop employee had to realize, who just wanted to make Zelda fans happy.
“The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” is the direct successor to the extremely popular “Breath of the Wild” and is eagerly awaited by fans. As early as December 2022, an image of a special edition of the Switch appeared, featuring motifs from the new Zelda title (via insider-gaming).
In March 2023, the GameStop employee, who is referred to as “Mike” in the conversation with the magazine Kotaku, then published a photo of a screen showing the upcoming inventory of GameStop. It displayed the description of the once-secret Zelda model of the Switch.
Employee says he meant no harm
Why did he do it? According to Mike, he didn’t think anything of this image and just wanted to let Zelda fans know that the console would probably soon be available for pre-order – after all, it was one day before the small “Nintendo Direct” during which gameplay of the new Zelda game was presented.
Since these “Special Edition” consoles are usually available in limited quantities, Zelda fans should be able to prepare to ensure they can get one of the coveted consoles – that was at least Mike’s intention.
About a week later, Nintendo traced back the leak, and Mike was summoned to his supervisor. He was asked if he had written the post and if he was aware that he had violated the company’s rules.
Mike confessed immediately, although he stated at the time that he was not clear that he had violated any rules. After all, the appearance of the new Switch version had already been circulating before, and his post was mainly speculative.
Mike was informed that this incident could have consequences – ranging from a warning to immediate dismissal. A week later, on April 11, the supervisor called again and revealed “behind closed doors” that Nintendo had forced action: Mike was fired.
The fact that Mike had not acted with malicious intent is at least suggested by the rather “sloppy” handling of this leak. His Reddit account was linked to various other social media accounts and also to some selfie photos, making tracking him down quite easy.
Man loses job and his favorite company Nintendo now hates him
Nintendo often takes strict action: Nintendo has repeatedly been known in the past to take strong action against leaks of any kind. Whether images are published on a Discord server or in a subreddit – when Nintendo gets wind of it, the Japanese company is very focused on tracing every little leak back to its origin and demanding consequences. In this case, that has apparently succeeded.
For the employee Mike, the story is bitter in multiple ways. Not only the loss of the job, but also elsewhere this has led to problems: he managed to secure his own pre-order, but says that “he can no longer afford it without a job.”
Additionally, his supervisor added when announcing the dismissal: “This is your favorite company and now they hate you.”
What do you think of this approach? The “just punishment” for a leak? Or is it a bit excessive?
