In a recent podcast, former Nintendo PR managers Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang revealed a mysterious department known as Nintendo Ninja. This department is dedicated to investigating internal data leaks within the company, specifically tasked with monitoring the circulation of all undisclosed information.
Ellis and Yang highlight that Nintendo often maintains a lean team structure to minimize the risk of data leaks, keeping the number of personnel with access to confidential information low, which makes their investigative work more efficient. Overall, Nintendo demonstrates an extremely stringent approach to confidentiality regarding internal data. They have even established a dedicated team to handle incidents of game data leaks, ensuring that most employees remain tight-lipped about external matters. This team, playfully dubbed Nintendo Ninja, is primarily responsible for investigating any potential breaches of company secrets. Whenever there is a leak of unpublished game information or internal documents, they promptly initiate an investigation, tracing the source of the leak and implementing appropriate measures.
Nintendo's enhanced internal security measures are clearly justified. According to a report by 404 Media, a Google contractor exploited admin privileges in June 2024 to connect to Nintendo's YouTube account and accessed private information about the unreleased game Yoshi's Handmade World. In fact, details were leaked on Reddit even before the game's official announcement at the 2017 E3 expo. During the shareholders' meeting, Nintendo addressed this security incident by stating that they are collaborating with professional firms to tackle information security challenges and are integrating information security management into the company's internal systems to boost employee education and awareness.
