YouTube Employees Linked to Major Gaming Leaks, Including Nintendo Data

Leaks from Google’s YouTube Staff: A Persistent Issue

Following the scheduling of Sony PlayStation State of Play’s presentation on YouTube, a list of games discussed at the event was publicized last week. According to Insider Gaming and 404 Media, there are allegations that Google’s employees – who own the video platform – is the source of the leaks.

In 2022, blogger KSI attempted to give away over $10,000 worth of Amazon gift cards to subscribers. However, he later found out that all gift cards were redeemed before his video was published, leading YouTube to conduct an internal investigation. The inquiry was also instigated following the GTA VI trailer leak, although it’s unclear if the two incidents were related.

This seemingly continual issue is one that Google has yet to overcome. It first appeared in 2017 when Nintendo’s trailer for Yoshi’s Crafted World leaked before its scheduled E3 public release. A Reddit user, who was apparently responsible for the leak, shared a URL from the admin.youtube.com subdomain, suggesting a possible link to a YouTube employee. YouTube later confirmed this, stating: “A Google worker intentionally leaked confidential Nintendo information. The former temporary vendor contractor downloaded the video using an administrator account and shared the unpublished Nintendo novelty with a friend.”.

Google’s representative Matt Bryant told The Verge that every incident reported by journalists had “been addressed and resolved at that time.” However, he did not specify the measures the company took to prevent early access to confidential information by company employees and subsequent leaks.