GameStop Fires Employee For Leaking Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Switch

Oh Mike, why? Why Mike, whyyyy?

This is so dumb. Mike didn't ruin anyone's moment. Let Mike keep his job!

Don't mess with the Nintendo Ninjas

Go, go, go go Mike
Go, go, go go Mike

My name is Mike and tonight i'm... Losing my job because of Nintendo ninjas

Hope his unemployment check covers his copy of the game.

What a stupid employee. Getting fired over stupid useless internet points. Mike and all of us know that Nintendo doesn’t mess around with leakers and is very protective of their products, yet he still posted those pictures. And Nintendo, we all would have predicted a special OLED for this occasion as well regardless. Splatoon 3 and Scarlet/Violet had their own dedicated OLED themes, so why would they not give a theme to the game that’s bigger than all three of the games I just mentioned? Anyway, Mike, I hope you didn’t ruin your career over being a Reddit spoiler. Safe travels, ok?

@NinTempo I love this comment

Nintendo does not mess around. As far as ruining a career….. I don’t know how much longer GameStop will be around anyway.

Mike, you are a numpty. Hopefully, it's lesson learned and he gets a job

@RemembersGems Not good for the accused, if you did no wrong then you had nothing to worry about. Mike knew what he was doing and he got his 10 minutes of fame.

@RemembersGems The number of people defending multibillion dollar corporation Nintendo is disconcerting, to say the least.

“Mike” was probably some low level associate working part-time that got paid garbage without benefits. It’s not like GameStop is some foot in the door to get a job at Nintendo, Sony and so on. Mike will be just fine…he will be hired next day at another garbage employer like McDonalds, Lowe’s, Target, etc. lol

My guess is Nintendo demanded his termination because this wasn't revealed on their own terms. Nintendo has many trade secrets, and if they get out, it could damage their brand.

Plus, Japan's copyright, trademark, and patent laws are far stricter than those here in the United States; their zeal to protect their intellectual property is Edisonian (in reference to Thomas Edison and the lengths to which he went to protect his patents).

Now, we can argue until the cows come home as to whether or not Mike's termination was justified, but even if it wasn't, he probably can't afford a decent enough of a lawyer to sue for his job back, or go after Nintendo for forcing GameStop to fire him. So he'll probably stay fired at the end of the day.

Nintendo Ninjas strike again! (my condolences)

As someone who worked at GS, one of the first things they taught us was not to leak stuff and more over, NEVER break street date unless the company wide email has been sent out to do so.

Failure to comply with these things could result in various punishments including fines and termination. So either Mike is lying or extremely thick. The scrutiny we received over the Halo 3 launch, any potential leaks, and any potential early sales was serious. Funny enough, we were warned that as far as mess ups go, MS was the least of our worries when it came to game companies being mad about such things. Sony and especially Nintendo would have heads rolling.

Mickey Mouse's lawyers have nothing on Mario's these days. sheesh

Man...this is just crazy and absurd to hear. Unfortunately, I honestly don't have any words, thoughts, and/or opinions on this.

Getting fired is probably the least of what it could have been. Those Nin-jas could've sued the pants off of him.

If they do this to a guy who leaked just one product, imagine what they're gonna do when they finally nail down that one guy's uncle

Nintendo doesn’t hate him. No one in Japan knows or cares who he is. They just know someone leaked something and they punished him. Remember that the guy that leaked Mario Bros Wii got a Ganondorf statue for giving Nintendo money.

Nintendo is so lame sometimes. I wish it didn’t feel like they despise their fanbase. I wonder if the company is even aware of how they are perceived.

All that for a drop of clout.

Serves him right. Excessive or not, don't leak classified information and your job is safe. It's not that hard to figure out.

I’m sure Mike would not have been fired if he were Shigeru Miyamoto’s son or son-in-law.

Skimming through the comment section of those who blatantly called fake and or wagered it so in that December leak article..

@Bobb, @Crockin, @UltimateOtaku91, @1UP_MARIO, @Dark-Luigi, @GrailUK, @Madao, @ComfyAko, @Edu23XWiiU, @BizzyB, @Giancarlothomaz, @gcunit, @The-Chosen-one and @dcon11

.. Pony up! You lost all your internet credits. The recipient of the jackpot goes to @RobotReptile who went in with 100% REAL, congrats!

We take cash, credit, and eshop cards..

(This is a joke)

yeah GameStop, his career was on a massive upswing trajectory!! Now he's downgraded to video game garage sales.. poor Mike!!

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. You don't get to leak confidential information just because it's confidential information about a multibillion dollar company. Besides, it's not like he won't have another terrible retail job soon anyway.

@Dm9982 Yeah, I worked at Gamestop for one year, around the time of the Halo 2 launch. Everyone that works there understands not to leak things - no surprise that one could get in trouble for that. At the same time, I agree with @ATHFjman18, who said that he was probably a low-level employee making poor pay. Losing a job like that is not the worst thing that can happen, and he got some internet fame out of it... not necessarily a bad trade off. On the other hand, being known as someone untrustworthy with confidential information could blow back on him in a lot of ways in various careers, so I don't know. I also agree with people saying Nintendo overreacted. Stuff gets leaked - that's part of the game Nintendo!

Good, it’s not the employees right to leak something that they don’t own.

@CharlieGirl
I know it’s hard for you to believe, but the multi billion dollar corporation isn’t always in the wrong. Especially when the issue is some idiot who wanted some internet clout, deciding to peak something they didn’t own or have any right to.

@CharlieGirl This is a Nintendo website... why do you even come on here if you hate Nintendo so much?

@Xiovanni Yeah they could lol. It's not like you can't buy their products at say Walmart or Amazon

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Imagine being so out of touch with reality that you don't understand why it's not a smart idea to leak the existence of unannounced hardware from a multinational corporation.

Don't feel too bad, Mike. Nintendo also hates all their other fans, customers, and supporters too. And all they were guilty of was liking Nintendo.

It's not an insult to be hated by Nintendo. It just makes you a normal person.

@Rottytops what is happening here? Did I miss something? We hate Nintendo now? And they hate us? I'm out for the night... I can already sense this comment section kicking off.

I guarantee this article is going to be full of "comments removed" in the morning. When the reality is that this article should be removed for encouraging arguments amongst its visitors.

Enjoy your fighting everyone :/ goodnight

Getting fired from Gamestop isn't really a punishment.

I think:
1. Mike is clearly wrong for posting work stuff online, Gamespot has the very right to fire him as he breached a company policy, regardless this involves Nintendo or not. Basically any employee should not post any work related stuff online (unless for whistle blowing purposes maybe?). This is not from ethical POV, it's a very common policy in almost any industry which agreed by both employer and employee from the first day of work. Ya this is adult's life.
2. Nintendo could still make gamestop pay for this if they want to, but I think Nintendo CANNOT make Mike pay as the leak was breached by an employee of gamestop rather than Mike himself. (Hey Nintendo Ninja, do it)

I mean, it's not really a surprise, and in business sense, he deserve it. you gotta respect the agreement.

And now nintendo, i implore you, please do the same for TOTK leaker, because God we know it will leak at some point before launch.

Yeah because in this upside down world it’s a crime to make someone want to buy something before it’s “officially” announced. 🙄

Breaching company policy cost "Mike" his job?

Who'da thunk?

Maybe at his next job, he'll better consider the consequences of dumb actions for internet brownie points.

@CharlieGirl ah yes, so basically when its versus big corporation, anything goes? Do my eyes deceive me or did the employee actually do something wrong?

Its crazy how we immediately go to "greedy corporation" generic argumentation.

And come on, let's not pretend that a gamestop job is not the type of job that is easily available anywhere.

@Xiovanni

Not give any exclusives to them.

Give them lesser stock of limited release items. Send more elsewhere.

Etc.

Play stupid games win stupid prizes as they say.

@maulinks I honestly don't understand some people.

Bro leaked confidential information cause he wanted that 15 minutes of fame. He's not supposed to do that.

And guess what he got in trouble for it. Shocker. Who would have thought

@AlexanderDaniels ummm...hmm...okay?🤔

eh...

I understand this one. Nintendo is dumby insecure but gamestop having to fire him about it makes sense. It's part of the contract not to leak stuff, both gamestop is under that contract directly with nintendo and the employee is on that contract with gamestop, termination is expected at that point. I ain't a fan how gamestop reacted with mike, saying everyone hates him I'm pretty sure is slander/abusive and can get HR involved.

What dumb is nintendo being insecure enough to go searching for this as if breaking street date is some public emergency. Its going to happen regardless of their head count just the way it is. Maybe don't have your products out and about so early next time ! For how much they make they can do first day overnight shipping a lot tighter to the release window..

I’m honestly just sorry for people who get caught doing this sort of thing. I love a juicy rumor or leak and I’m personally glad some people are crazy enough to do things like that. It doesn’t really hurt anyone individually and I usually hope they get away with it. (The exception being people who maliciously leak information to harm someone else)

@MSaturn I agree that probably low level, regardless of level, low pay though (even managers make less than $35,000 a year, or at least use to).

As third key holder, I was more worried about any fines levied, as part of the stuff you sign for employment included fines against you and the company for breaking certain rules. According to the email during Halo 3, if date was broken it was a $10,000 fine for the store, $1,000 for the manager, and $500 for the employee in question.

Leaks however…. That should have been easy to cover up, though he probably went silly with excitement. Take a pic, crop it so you can’t see any identifying locational data, send to a friend, have them sent to another friend, then have that person leak on Reddit or something. It would be very difficult to prove where exactly the leak came from, and more over, would require a lot of court costs.

Yep, stop leaking stuff. Companies pay a ton of money for marketing and to get announcement timing right. Stop leaking stuff. It’s in your contract when you are hired. I had to sit through a whole training about breaking street date when I started at GS. Leaks weren’t as much of a problem then.

I wonder if fines will be levied as well? Granted street date wasn’t broken so likely not.

The business side of Nintendo is still as ruthless as ever. Presumably they have a legal right to be upset about the leak, but the level of retaliation feels disproportionate to the offense. The fact that they can tell GameStop what to do sounds a bit like bullying. Then again, GameStop employees are expected to adhere to company policies. Either way, it's not a good look for Nintendo or GameStop.

Guess that 5 min worth of internet fame wasn’t worth it huh?

NL users: make a comment berating the guy for looking for clout and 10 minutes of internet fame

Also NL users: refresh page multiple times to see how many likes said comment gets

@CharlieGirl Gamestop is also a big company with an NDA most likely. So Nintendo forcing Gamestop’s hand is very understandable.

Wait, so some PRE-TEEN leaked this?

Very confused why so many here think that this is typical for specifically Nintendo.

It's a breach of contract, of course you get into trouble for that.
If that wasn't the case, then what is even the point of an NDA? Anyone could just leak everything.
There is also a reason, why known leakers usually don't directly work for the companies involved.

I feel sorry for the guy too, but this is normal procedure.

leaking is never worth it (at least for games)

Well, that was idiotic from him.

@Dragonstar

I bet you would have done that anyway without this news...

"this is your favorite company and now they hate you"

I just wanna see his next interview where he has to explain why he left his last job xD

Whether or not Nintendo 'demanded' his termination, is probably irrelevant; "Mike" got fired because he got caught.

An employer's inventory database is very likely to be proprietary and confidential. Capturing and sharing a photo of said database, outside of the company and without their consent, is almost certainly going to be grounds for termination, in and of itself. That the photo also violated an NDA with Nintendo was sort of the cherry on top.

"You'll get no sympathy from me."

@AlexanderDaniels well, it would see my estimation was incorrect, and I would like to sincerely apologize to everyone impacted by my lack of imagination and narrow - mindness (although I can only guess that my previous guess was just a guess)

>Employee releases private, privaleged information.
>Employee gets fired because of the consequences of his actions.

It's hilarious that so many people see this as a misstep by Nintendo, when this is really just a breach of basic job etiquette. You'd be fired in any job for releasing what is probably confidential information under an NDA.

@Not_Soos I miss when NintendoLife briefly showed up to 5 thumbs down on comments, and anything over 5 was marked with 5+. Not sure what they do with the data since it is not public. Maybe any comment with more than X thumbs down automatically notifies the moderators that action might be needed.

Was is worth it Mike? Well, was it?

@Xiovanni They would likely impose sanctions on them; eg no more exclusives, less stock supplied etc.

They can and done it before typically to independent retailers who break street dates for releases.

@Vivianeat no. That would be child labour.

Yeah, you don't go around leaking stuff like this and expect to not get in trouble. I mean, it sucks that he lost his job and hopefully he lands on his feet, but he had it coming.

I'm sorry if that means I'm "defending a multibillion dollar corporation" 🙄 but Mike should've known better.

Don't leak secret information.

@AstroTheGamosian nothing do do with copyright i think, gamestop probbly signed an nda kind of thing to get the imges in their database and he broke that rule getting his employer into trouble..

@Xiovanni gamestop probsably would pay a set fine in the nda...

Of course he needs to get fired, I can‘t believe there‘s even a discussion about it. If you let him stay, then others will do the same. He‘s probably better off losing his job instead of being sent to the court.

This is Nintendo though; fiercely secretive.

Plus, it’ll be cheaper to sack someone who undertook misconduct than lose potentially thousands if not millions in revenue.

I'm pretty sure once you get hired in a place like GameStop you have to sign a NDA contract where you can't leak information/sell something before release date, for example. And nowadays is stupidly easy to find a leaker. I'm not a fan of Nintendo's actions but this time Mike looked for it. Was it worth your 10 minutes of glory on the internet Mike?

Gamestop should be grateful to Nintendo for taking the heat here so they don't have to look like the bad guys for once.

Not defending a "multi-billion corporation" when I say don't play stupid games if you don't want stupid prizes. There was no reason to leak this outside of internet bragging rights. If you're going to do something like this at least cover your tracks. As for Nintendo, while this might sound petty most companies would do the same. Don't go breaking NDAs over something so thick if you want to keep your job just that simple.

@Herna if you honestly think a client does not periodically scan through the social media of a partner's employees for leaks or violations of contracts you're a bit naive. It sounds gross and while I'm not a fan of Nintendo doing it there is a reason they do it. The more sensitive the information you're dealing with the heavier the scrutiny is. That is why your employer will normally say "don't post about your job on social media."

@AlexanderDaniels Hehehe. It's a fair cop, but I've never had any internet credit. Will you take an i.o.u?

Are we really playing the "defending multi million-dollar company" card again?

I work in a school, how do you think they would react if they catch me going on Facebook or whatever ranting about my students' misbehavior, directly mentioning them by name? I would have my butt roasted and would kiss my career as a teacher goodbye.

How hard can it be to grasp the simple concept of "Don't breach NDAs and don't go on posting sensitive information"?

Also

During the phone call of his termination, Mike's manager told him "this is your favorite company and now they hate you."

This part is telling of GameStop as a corporation.

You leak confidential information in any job you are going get in trouble unless your a whistle-blower bringing to light some awful practice etc just don't do it.

I don't think Mike expected to keep his job doing that. Glad he didn't have to pay any fines.

@Herna I left my old job years ago and I'm still under NDA as one contract I worked on involved people's lives. While this is not comparable, if I leaked what I know I'd be facing far worse than the unemployment line. Don't feed me this garbage, while this is beans in comparison the person still violated company policy and the trust of a partner. This is as shut closed a case of valid termination even if Nintendo was minimally involved. This is a common practice that clients will get employees terminated if they breach contract. I've seen it and had to carry out the marching orders personally.

@Herna well good news this person does not live in the EU. So unless you can cite the American law breached then this is a pointless hypothetical discussion.

@Herna Odds are Nintendo's legal team did a reverse image search through Google and just found the oldest post with the unmodified file. If you post something publicly you can't complain about your privacy. If the guy kept the photos on his phone and showed some buddies in person odds are they won't have gotten caught with their hands in the cookie jar. This isn't nonchalant behavior this is a realist. If this guy got fired for a private conversation with their mom and Nintendo bugged their apartment we can have that discussion of company overreach. This however, as I've stated multiple times is a very clear cut case of don't leak something so stupid and you won't get fired for stupid reasons.

@romanista Exactly. It's an NDA thing in order to protect trademarks and/or patents. Breaking an NDA is a massive breach of not only security, but trust, both with your employer, its clients/customers, and its business partners.

Where I work, confidentiality is paramount, to the point where if we even have to leave our desks for so much as a second, we have to lock our computers and log back in when we get back. So for Mike to break that confidentiality, it absolutely warrants termination of employment.

I mean, he violated company policy and breached the terms and conditions of his employment contract. Of course he was fired.

Correction:

GameStop employee quits job in funniest way possible, probably still gets unemployment.

What a chad.

@Herna Have you ever worked in a proper corporation? If this is shocking then I have doubts. I've seen people fired for less due to upsetting the client. In this case the dude deserved the sacking for not putting any safeguards in place. Never leak something with stuff linked to your geolocation that is just a Darwin award. And what proper conduct? The employee did not display any. So, I have to side against the corporation? You have not even cited what law they even breached.

So, yeah we won't see eye to eye on this because its very clear cut. As I've stated if this was because of a private conversation, or he took even the most basic of safeguards this wouldn't have happened. This is a case of don't be stupid... stupid. I think the firing was a bit of an overreaction, but the guy did violate Gamestop's policy and NDAs with a client so a terminated is pretty standard practice. Can't be upset with the corporations on this one as this is soft hands compared to the legal crap they could had put him through (and other companies have done much, and I mean much worse).

As for the Discord conversation I've not commented on that because I really don't want to. That is a very stupid thing too to leak and I understand Nintendo's perspective, but I also am not a fan of a company subpoenaing private information from another. That is a different kettle of fish and one, that is too complicated for me to personally have over text without having to write a three page essay on the topic.

-leaks unrevealed information from Nintendo-

Mike: "I won't get in trouble for this"

-Gets fired for leaking unrevealed information-

Mike: -surprised Pikachu face-

Nintendo probably told Gamespot they will no longer provide any special editions or advanced knowledge of upcoming releases which would hurt Gamestop's bottom line.

Even if Nintendo didn't pressure them, the employee should've been fired. That's basic game industry stuff.

@Xiovanni While we agree on most things there are a few points I'd like to add. Gamestop is not nearly as powerful as they were in the 00s, I would say they are now no more powerful than local mom-and-pop shops. Amazon, Wallmart, even Bestbuy all have far more reach to gamers than a dedicated game store nowadays. And, Gamestop has become more like a Hot Topic that sells games, as most of their shelves contain merch from anime, manga, model kits, and plushes and t-shirts galore. If Nintendo wanted to the put the screw to them they can do so without restricting games, they could lower the amount of Mario, Kirby and Pokemon merch going to them which would probably hurt Gamestops bottom-line far worse than not getting TotK (especially considering the smash hit the Mario Movie is).

Though, I do generally agree with most of the other things you've stated in your posts on the topic. Cheers.

@Scapetti

"I guarantee this article is going to be full of "comments removed" in the morning. "

lol yeah... YOUR comments 😅

@CharlieGirl

you are right, as usual. what we are running ip against here, is the tendency for 13 y.o. game fans being little authoritiarians in training. most of them will grow out of it, some wont! ✊

@Serpenterror

"if you did no wrong then you had nothing to worry about."

literally what the wrong people say, every time. you are wrong.

A bit of plastic gets leaked online. Sales won’t be harmed. Nothing bad happened to anyone and yet people say he deserved it. Wow. What happened to society?

Guy lost his livelihood.

Wow. Some of you love the taste of big corporate boot.

@Stocksy

dont worry, these people still feel sorry for themselves privately AND publicly when bad outcomes happen for themselves, regardless of circumstances. hypocrites, you see. 🧐

nintendo goes after anyone they got this guy lose his job they go after youtubers for posting music or game play.. no mercy from nintendo...

@Stocksy If he was worried about losing his livelihood, he shouldn't have broken the rules. If he doesn't like the rules of his job, then he needs to find a new one (preferably before breaking the rules of his current job)

Why should we be worried about his livelihood if he isn't?

He probably had an NDA of sorts in his contract.
I hope he finds another job, of course, but a breach is a breach.

Sounds about right for a minimum wage working class person. Others would’ve gotten paid time off while things blew over. Mistake number 1 Mike. Don’t be working class. Humans aren’t perfect. Everyone wants clout at times. Temptation and all. I hope Mike finds a new job soon and I hope he wasn’t working paycheck to paycheck. It would be insane to get your life ruined for leaking govt secrets- I mean, leaking how a nerdy gaming console looks. Must’ve lost Nintendo millions. So many ppl not buying the console anymore because of this I bet. 😔

Sorry, but guy's an idiot. I work in an unrelated tech industry, with access to prelaunch hardware. I could leak things for Internet Points relatively easily, if so inclined... but I know if caught the consequence would be losing my job, and likely never working in said industry again. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

@AlexanderDaniels I apologize with a smile on my face. I actually believed it was fake, but because of that, it was a surprise when it was revealed, and now I'm going to buy it hehehee.

I understand this very well. This dude breached a confidentiality agreement that many Companies (depending on the industry) have you sign when you start.

Perfect example is me. I work for a certain major Corporation who's mascot is a certain rodent (mouse). I signed (and every few months have to resign) confidentiality agreement(s) when it comes to unnannounced projects, exclusive sneak previews, etc. in regards to anything that hasn't officially been announced to the public (and even if it already has in some cases). If you break any of that in any fashion you are hunted down, terminated and pretty much guaranteed you will never work for that Company ever again. This Company I work for even has a dedicated department that handles all that. When we get granted exclusive previews of new attractions and/or lands/experiences our phones are put into a sealed pouch in front of Security and opened afterward in front of Security. Even taking a selfie backstage can get you canned. So yeah, I get it this was all on the dude. If anything Nintendo was just ensuring that Gamestop held up their end of the confidentiality agreement so they can hold them accountable for future releases.

Nintendo is nearly as bad as Disney is when it comes to abusing their power. If Nintendo were as big as Disney I'd imagine they'd be even worse.

As most of you know, I don't defend "faceless" multi-million/billion dollar corporations, (no I am not anti-capitalist either) but the fact remains that Mike "violated company policy."

He deserved to be fired.
All GS employees, when hired, in all the paperwork that needs to be signed, is a Non-Disclosure Agreement.
That is because GS employees deal with stuff from these companies that isn't yet ready for the public to know about.

But, Nintendo NEEDS to start telling the customers/consumers about items that are higher ticket priced because a week or two notice isn't enough time for a lot of people to save up.

@-wc- Haha, they 100% did that because of my comment. The one they removed just said "how is this news?". They were making a point... not sure what it was though. Think they just did it to be funny

This is what happens for your one minute tweet fame. Loss of job and no more employer will hire you - they have no trust that you won't screenshot company info before release date. You violated company policies and he's lucky only got fired no criminal charges because GameStop management probably stopped the Ninja from going that route.

@CharlieGirl The number of people defending multibillion dollar corporation Nintendo is disconcerting, to say the least.
And the numbers if were going to only post company-how about Pork Belly grummy Politicians they allowed this to happen so anyone to blame them they wrote laws to protect those companies.

@The_BAAD_Man He probably had an NDA of sorts in his contract. I hope he finds another job, of course, but a breach is a breach.

This is what alot of bashers forget. You signed their NDA you don't make the Rules. Sure he though how fun but never thinking they Entrusted You to protect their IP and company internals. If people aren't sure they should think how would any company look at this small and big or private and ask themselves how do we trust this person to look at non-sensitive info that isn't public to start let alone sensitive info.

@Scapetti

haha 🤣 cheers 😊

And people will still defend nintendo

@MSaturn Getting fired for leaking stuff is also part of the “game.”

@koffing So, they despise their fan base because they attempt to stop the piracy of their games and up and go after leakers?

If Nintendo is his favourite company, maybe he shouldn't be leaking classified information. I'd hate to see what he would do to his most hated company. I have absolutely no sympathy for people who break NDA to seek "le epic upboats!" on Reddit, and neither should you.

@Adol-Bannings could GameStop the parent company be at fault for not securing upcoming trade secrets and internal databases from their own employees?

It’s soooo easy to blame the minimum wage employees. That’s what most multinational billion dollar corporations do. That’s way easier and cheaper than actually being responsible.

Nintendo knows this. And they should get asked by the press in every interview about the things that suck. Their legal takedowns of fan charity events. Their failing Joycon hardware. Their alleged treatment of contractors and temp workers.

They are an amazing company that makes amazing games but we don’t have to pretend they are blameless. They are an elite multibillion dollar company. Let them own that.

@koffing Right, because the employees are not trained and informed that they should not be sharing information on social media (/s). The only reason why "Mike" posted this, is because he thought Nintendo wouldn't backtrace him from his Reddit profile. Would he post this on Twitter under his real name? Of course not. He absolutely knew he was in the wrong from the get go, he just thought he would get away with it. Personal accountability is a thing and should always be a thing. He done goofed, and GameStop should have terminated him regardless of Nintendo's intervention, if they are a serious business at all. You're just making excuses, and I don't understand why. What's your agenda exactly? Nintendo being in the wrong in other cases doesn't correlate.

@koffing It's alarming that a lot of blind fanboyism really obfuscates the truth you're spitting, but hot dang you are spot on correct.

@CharlieGirl so when a “billion dollar corporation” is involved all crimes against them are righteous because you don’t like them? I don’t think it’s ok to leak any one’s secrets corporation or person but I must be a bootlicker.

@Switch_Pro what’s your “agenda”? Why defend Nintendo? Do you work for them? Were you fiscally harmed by the employee “leaking” the existence of a new Switch model?

I am tired of people punching down.

What's your agenda? Why defend "Mike?" Do you work for him? Were you fiscally harmed by Mike's lack of employment?

@koffing And I'm tired of people supporting the little guy just because he is the little guy even though he clearly made his own bed. If I leak my company's classified information I deserve to be fired and so does he. Time to sleep on it.

Judging by the comments from former GameStop employees in this thread, GameStop goes over the top to impress upon its employees that leaks will not be tolerated. This wasn't a kid. If he was working there, he was of legal age, responsible for his decisions. He knew the potential ramifications, broke the rule anyway, and now must suffer the consequences he was warned he might face.

I'm sure he can get another job for equal or better pay, so his life hasn't been ruined.

As for Nintendo reacting harshly ... Game after game is being leaked these days. It's about time someone was made an example of. I'm with the big corporation on this one and proud of it. Nintendo loves me!

I'm thinking the people defending him have probably never had a job. Or live in the real world.

Break your employment contract and you're gonna lose your job. It's the same in most places.

I'm not happy that Nintendo 'forced' GameStop to fire him, but if it counted as gross misconduct in his contract, then that's what happens. Being fired over the phone - that's super-classy.

The only special edition Switch I want is one that lets me download games while I'm playing a game. Is the console so weak that it can't multitask.

I'm thinking the people defending Nintendo have probably never had a job. Or live in the real world.

Most people Break their employment contract daily especially in places like America that have no or limited worker protections. It's the same in most places, all of them have a “get someone out the door for peanuts” clauses.

Some countries are more enlightened and value workers. Countries like America and now England are set up to make the rich 5% richer. Figures in the last 5 years prove now it’s worse than ever.

Basement dwellers are still punching down and waiting for the trickle.

@Stocksy
I mean I'm not happy the guy got fired like some apparently, but this is reality. I'm not sure how you can conclude that people understanding basic contractual obligations have never had a job or live in the real world. At least I can say I've never broken the terms of my employment lol

@Bodatajson I 100% guarantee you have. You might say it’s “not important” but so did he. No a single employee in the world won’t have broken their terms of employment or broken the “accepted” normal terms and conditions, like being late, personal emails, or the many other no “acceptable until we say so technical breaches” that a company could easily sack you for. Performance related ones are the one most people breach. Mostly because of conditions beyond their control.

I would suggest it’s not me that doesn’t understand “basic contractual obligations” it’s maybe that some don’t understand how easy it is for a company to say you’ve breached your terms, game stop wouldn’t normally

A- sack someone for this.
B -know someone has done this.

It’s such a non event. None one was hurt and no sales were effected.

If this was a milk company saying they got a Walmart employee sacked for saying online they had a new 5.25L milk carton coming in the fall…. You’d be saying OMG that’s ridiculous…. Why should they be sacked.

It’s typical of a certain demographic in the gaming community to defend such a ridiculous move.

Replace the word Nintendo with a different everyday company and the switch with any household product and you see how ridiculous this is.

@Stocksy
Well that's debatable, but who knows maybe I have. True if some corporation really wants to fire they can probably always find some reason. However you have to agree that revealing confidential information (even if it isn"t particularly important information) is a lot more serious than arriving 5 minutes late. At the end of the day punishment isn't just meant to punish you, but also deter others from doing the same. Nintendo wants to put an end to leaks and it just so happens that poor Mike paid the price.

@CharlieGirl the number of times you saying this exact generic "argument" while supporting the same company with your $$ is also disconcerting

@Switch_Pro Do you see that both of us have valid points?

I can absolutely acknowledge that GameStop has the right to remove employees and shouldn’t keep employees who violate secrecy agreements on their payroll. That’s bad business. I also acknowledge that individuals are responsible for their decisions. This person knew better.

Now,

(1) Can you acknowledge that GameStop’s IT and security departments can do more to protect allegedly private information that has been consistently leaking from them for the past twenty years?

(2) Can you acknowledge that Nintendo — instead of “demanding the employee be terminated over the leak” — could make different demands and wasn’t forced to demand this particular outcome?

(3) Can you acknowledge Nintendo wasn’t financially harmed in any meaningful way from this leak? That this multi-billion dollar company in particular immediately sells out of whatever special edition hardware they make.

@Stocksy I respect the NDA in my employment contract. No idea what you mean when you say most employees break their contract daily. Most know better. And I think there's a big difference between a "casual" breach — someone forgetting to delete a sensitive email or maybe telling their spouse about a pending company sale — and someone who intentionally spoils a key vendor's product reveal.

@koffing I agree with all those points to an extent. The thing is, I am not Nintendo's legal department, so I couldn't tell you the legal implications of letting things like this pass. For one, they would be setting precedent where they don't take action against leaks. My problem with your previous post was that you were painting them as the villain. As a business, it is necessary to protect their interests.

I will state where I work they put us through a NDA and Data Privacy training which we all have to complete if we want access and to work at our location. He knew it and blew it. I myself had to report another staff when they looked at my info at work as he himself took the very same training and agreed to protect data and he broke that NDA. He still at work but one more time and he is gone no more get of of jail free card they made it known there is no next time. And he can be prosecuted for this violation. We all have to remember here he was 18 years old of legal age so he clearly knows doing what he did was wrong-since no public can see internal confidential info that isn't public.

So he thought it would be fun to break his contract with Gamestop and nothing will happen?
When are people going to understand, breaking an NDA contract has it consecuences, no matter what company you're working with.
Best luck for him and hope he learns his lesson.

@koffing
(1) Can you acknowledge that GameStop’s IT and security departments can do more to protect allegedly private information that has been consistently leaking from them for the past twenty years?
You have no credibility to be talking here since your not GameStop IT or security to make any comments here.

@koffing
(2) Can you acknowledge that Nintendo — instead of “demanding the employee be terminated over the leak” — could make different demands and wasn’t forced to demand this particular outcome?
Nintendo is protecting their business interest and their sellers of the Game/IP from theft and leaks. They make the Rules you don't make the rules. They are end of the day Protecting their IP and data not for public.

@koffing
(3) Can you acknowledge Nintendo wasn’t financially harmed in any meaningful way from this leak? That this multi-billion dollar company in particular immediately sells out of whatever special edition hardware they make.
You already clearly don't know what NDA and Data Privacy means. When you understand these two business practices better come back and talk about security data.

@koffing
Big Example Take the DOD IT contractor whom leaked the Ukraine and Russia files this past week. This was so sensitive that it endangered NATO and Ukraine fighting for their freedom. So would you support this person that leaked this as just someone wanting their 5 min fame????

I kinda feel bad for him but I mean he had it coming

@Switch_Pro I am not aware of any legal requirement where companies have to (1) pursue solving leaks in order to claim standing on separate leaks or (2) they are required to demand specific forms of action against leakers such as demanding an employee be fired. /shruggie.

@SwitchForce dude have fun shilling for corporate execs and their private jets. Nintendo’s legal department HAS to demand this person gets fired cause ***Rules***!

@koffing Of course you don't know, you are not an expert in commercial law in USA and you also don't know what specifically is on the contract between Gamestop and Nintendo.

@Tasuki Which that person would lose. It's part (or at least was when I worked for gamestop) of your employment terms that you have to maintain vendor/client confidentiality. And that is before you even get to the fact that most states are At Will in the US. Gamestop can be fined by the manufacturer (or worse over stuff like this) don't wanna lose your job? Don't leak or at least be tech savvy enough to cover your tracks.

@Tasuki bro they have a reason, breach of contact:

"Grounds for Termination
Generally, employees employed on an “at-will” basis may be terminated, with or without cause or grounds, provided it is not for an illegal reason, notably discrimination on grounds of a category protected by law or protected “whistleblowing” activity (reporting certain employer activity where the employee reasonably believes that the information he or she provided relates to potential violations of specific laws).

The employment contracts of executives and other highly-skilled individual often incorporate a “just cause termination” clause, mandating that the employee may only be terminated for “cause” and lists the permissible grounds. In such cases, the grounds for a “just cause” termination are negotiated by the parties on a case-by-case basis."

Source: https://leglobal.law/countries/usa/employment-law/employment-law-overview-usa/07-termination-of-employment-contracts/

So unless Mike had a clause in his contract that mandated "just cause" they can terminate him whenever if he was in a "at-will" basis. However, leaking sensitive vendor information "maliciously" on the internet breaching either an NDA or confidentiality clause is grounds for termination. He could had gotten a written warning, but when you upset the client then that may not apply. If GameStop caught him that's one thing, but when the client does all bets are off and to avoid potential lawsuits or loss of contracts with the client the employee will lose their job for the sake of everyone else.

We don't have to like it, but Mike was terminated with cause. And @Ryu_Niiyama is right when you're "at will" employment in some US States you can be terminated for sneezing wrong in front of a manager. Provided the reason is not illegal like being based on race, gender, special need, or being a whistleblower (though if you suspect those are reasons for a potential termination find a different job, contact HR or your local government organization pertaining to your needs), but outside of that... you're kinda extra boned when you're at fault, like in this scenario unless you can find a crazy law or loophole in your contract.

@Switch_Pro Of course you don't know, you are not an expert in commercial law in USA and you also don't know what specifically is on the contract between Gamestop and Nintendo.
So True couldn't agree more - Typically Trolls thinking they know something when they know Jack. And I asked them would they support that DOD leaker of government sensitive data but notice they don't respond to it as well. Seems like koffing needs to revisit Data Privacy 101 and NDA again to know what your rights are when you agree to the Empolyeer TOA and how that can negatively affect company bottom line and reputations. Most if not all Companies Private and Public and Institutions have such clauses you Sign when you join as I stated YOU don't make the rules. Also regardless of your own views you joined so you put that aside from blatantly violations of the Laws and Constitutions but beyond that you follow the rules.

"This is your favorite company and now they hate you."

This is Nintendo these days: intransigent and merciless.

@Tasuki actually they can. At will means employers don’t have to have just cause and terminating an employee can be done without warning. That is literally how at will works. The only thing is some statuses are protected (doesn’t mean you won’t get fired for those reasons….just that won’t be the reason the employer gives) and at will does go both ways in that a person can clock out, say f you and leave. Of course that means no unemployment. You sound like you have only worked union jobs if you are born and raised in the US that is. I also take it that you never actually worked for Gamestop (I did for 6 years and made it to assistant manager). The only thing about this firing that can be called into question is the manager being unprofessional which will likely result in a write up. Not everything is the big bad corporation being evil. GS literally trains about leaks/client confidentiality and it at least when i was there is in the handbook. Violation of that policy can result in disciplinary actions up to and including termination. Which is what happened. And if dude tries to get unemployment I am sure GS will fight it. You couldn’t talk to the press either. I spent two black fridays ducking the press (we had unusually high sales both years) because I didn’t want to have that convo with my boss.

All y’all that hate companies so much need to just be self employed (or live off the land if that is still possible). Half y’all are complaining and don’t know what y’all are talking about. And no that doesn’t mean I love them, just a it’s not hard to be an honest person (and thus not get fired for stuff like this) and b I got bills to pay at my house so i have to work. Read your employment contracts and handbook and do your job and most of you will be fine.

@Ninban No, Mike needed to lose his job. Companies have corporate policies for a reason. People need to learn that actions have consequences. I have personally had enough of this, “but it isn’t hurting anyone” attitude. No, he broke the rules and he got an appropriate punishment.

Thank you GameStop and Nintendo for doing the right thing here and setting a good example for others.

@Tasuki Again worked for gamestop which is the company in question as an assistant manager (and have seen folks higher up the ladder get fired for leaking ps3 shipment dates) and I have seen it happen. At will, benefits both sides of the coin. However some states have further restrictions that hamper at will for the employer. So in the interest of moving on I will assume you are in such a state. I am not nor was I during my GS tenure. In states that have a flat at will labor laws you can get tossed on your butt legally without “just cause” but again you can also quit without just cause or a period of time. Either way this dude was fired for violating policy and client confidentiality so at will is really neither here nor there. I’m not going to argue about some idiot that threw away his own job. You do you.

@Luckey Yes you're right these are the rules. Then the rules are dumb and fuelled by infantile attitudes towards fans such as "While it was meant to be a surprising moment for fans," to quote the article. That a working class employee loses their job because a partner company didn't get to enjoy the full effect of their well-crafted marketing moment is class warfare.

Manager was needlessly cruel.

@eaglebob345 its not "classifed" information, there are no laws being broken at all, its just an embargo which holds NO legal clout! they have ZERO right to demand someone is fired over a leak, gamestop had it within their power to say no. Leaks are going to happen, BOTW2 will be leaked itself a week before release, they always are. the person who leaks the actual game is breaking the law! leaking information and hardware info isn't a crime. therefore we shouldn't be talking about it like it is one.

@LinkofHyrule to be clear

Leaking info - NOT A CRIME

Leaking an actual game - piracy and distrobution

@Tasuki its not theft of anything! at worse its misconduct which could of been handled through the displinary process! at no point have NINTENDO got the right to tell a company to s***can someone over ANYTHING. Leaking game info isn't a crime, its against the embargo of that time. it happens all the time. so you're right with the whole "employees can't just fire someoe just because' That is called arbitrarily firing someone and NORMALLY anyone who has worked for a place for longer than two years is protected against that anyway.