Nintendo has responded to claims made by a hacker group that it had stolen company data and demanded a $2 million ransom to prevent the information from being leaked. The group, known as ShadowByt3$, claimed it had obtained nearly 1GB of survey-related data, including names, email addresses and financial documents. Nintendo acknowledged that a third-party service used for employee surveys had been affected by a breach but said its own systems were not compromised. The company also stated that no personal consumer data or customer financial information was accessed during the incident.
Nintendo Responds to ShadowByt3$ Ransom Demand
According to reports, the alleged breach involved TinyPulse, a survey platform used by Nintendo of America for internal employee surveys. ShadowByt3$ claimed it had obtained nearly 859 MB of data, including employee names, email addresses, survey responses, financial forms and reports dating from 2016 to 2026. The group reportedly demanded a $2 million ransom and set a June 15 deadline to avoid releasing the information. In response, Nintendo said it was working with TinyPulse to address the situation.
The company stated that its internal systems were not breached by ShadowByt3$. Nintendo of America also said the affected information was limited to survey-related content collected through the third-party platform. No personal consumer or financial data was accessed, the company said.
Data Linked to Employee Survey Service
Nintendo said the data involved in the breach was limited in scope and related to employee survey content from previous years. The company did not indicate that it plans to meet the ransom demand. The incident is the latest cybersecurity challenge involving a major gaming company. Nintendo has previously been the subject of leaks involving internal information and unreleased projects.
One of the largest incidents occurred in 2024, when more than a terabyte of data from Pokemon developer Game Freak was leaked online. The leaked material reportedly included internal documents, source code and information related to future Pokemon projects.
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