Nintendo Wants To Force Discord To Help It Uncover A Zelda Leaker

Nintendo has filed an application to subpoena Discord in an attempt to track down a user who leaked images from an unreleased The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom art book. This comes by way of TorrentFreak, which obtained legal documents containing the subpoena request.

In February 2023, the aforementioned Discord user Julien#2743 leaked images on the platform from the game's 200-page art book. This book will be included in the upcoming Collector's Edition, and contained images of the game's characters and locations, among other spoilers. Nintendo sent Discord a DCMA takedown request and the images were pulled from the platform, but that didn't stop the leaked pictures from making the rounds online.

Now, if the subpoena request is approved by a California district court, Discord will be forced to reveal the identity of the user to Nintendo. An excerpt from Nintendo's subpoena application reads:

"Nintendo of America is requesting the attached proposed subpoena that would order Discord Inc. to disclose the identity, including the name(s), address(es), telephone number(s), and email addresses(es) of the user Julien#2743, who is responsible for posting infringing content that appeared at the following channel Discord channel Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom."

The leaker said the book was shared with them by a friend, though it's unclear the validity of this claim. "He’s a longtime friend so I wouldn’t assume he’d lie to me, I have more images but he’s promising to send a bunch more so I will show them all once I can!" said Julien on Reddit.

Given Nintendo's efforts, it's highly likely the images from the art book were legitimate as the company seeks to take legal action against the user.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launches for Nintendo Switch on May 12, 2023.