Hack of Pokémon developer Game Freak reveals franchise plans, Switch 2 details

Posted on October 13, 2024

Pokémon developer Game Freak has been the victim of an embarrassing hack, which has leaked many details about the studio’s future plans for the Pokémon franchise as well as some internal details of Nintendo’s upcoming Nintendo Switch successor.

As per a series of social media posts from the account Centro LEAKS which captured the information from the Game Freak leaks, many details of upcoming Pokémon projects have been revealed. One of these includes what appears to be a Pokémon MMO in development, as per a folder called “mmo_test”. Another multiplayer/battle-focused Pokémon project in the works is called CODENAME: SYNAPSE. This project, which might be another Pokémon Stadium game based on this description, is being developed in collaboration with ILCA, the Tokyo-based developer which worked on Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.

Other less notable, but still interesting, details unveiled included source codes and beta builds for both Pokémon Heart Gold/Soul Silver and Black/White 2. The leak also included the map editor for the Gen 3 games (Sapphire, Ruby and Emerald).

The last substantial nugget of information revealed from the Game Freak hack is that a new mainline Pokémon game is in the works for the Switch 2, or whatever Nintendo’s next main console will be called. Actual details about this Gen 10 Pokémon title, such as what it will be called or any specific Pokémon designs, are still not available. Interestingly, the leak does reveal that the internal codename for the upcoming Switch successor is “Ounce”, although nothing regarding specs or design have been confirmed as of yet.

Considering the Switch 2 is reportedly set to be released later this year, it wouldn’t be surprising if a new mainline Pokémon game were to be announced as either a launch, or not long after launch, title as a killer app for the new system. At time of writing, neither Nintendo nor Game Freak have commented on the leak. We will have to wait and see how many of these leaked details end up being officially confirmed in the coming weeks and months.