Last Saturday, Dexerto broke the story that Japanese developer Arc System Works was hacked, with data allegedly being leaked about Switch 2 game formats, Guilty Gear Strive, and the company’s in-development games.
On May 14, Arc System Works addressed the rumored leaks in a statement on its official website. In the statement, the company confirmed that such a data breach had taken place, but reassured users that “as of May 12, we have not confirmed the leak of any user personal information or player account information due to the unauthorized access.”
The company is currently working with outside experts to investigate and confirm the cause of the breach and determine exactly what data was leaked. It also urged people not to access the leaked data due to malware infection risks. However, Arc System Works did not comment on the content of the leak.
According to Dexerto, the leak contained a Guilty Gear Strive build that features all the remaining Season 4 characters, new moves, and what is believed to be the full Season 5 character line-up.
Also apparently included in the leak, as reported by Nintendo Everything, was information about the three formats available for the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 console: digital download only, a Game Key-Card, and a 64 GB physical game cartridge containing the full game.
Codenamed “Potion” in the leak, the Game Key-Card is a sort of digital/physical hybrid, a cartridge that comes in a physical box, however it requires the user to download the game to play. So far, the Game Key-Card route seems a common choice among third-party game developers with games planned for the Switch 2. With two of these formats relying on downloads, this quickly raised concerns among video game preservationists as to how easily playable and accessible Switch 2 games will be when the console reaches the end of its lifecycle.
Almost all physical third-party Nintendo Switch 2 games revealed so far are Game-Key Cards. As pointed out by Daniel Ahmad, Director of Research & Insights at Niko Partners, this focus on Game-Key Cards may put extreme pressure on the eShop around the Switch 2’s launch in June as fans rush to download their games.
“Game cards are significantly more expensive than discs (+ increases with each GB),” Ahmad added, explaining the reasoning for publishers to go down the cheaper Game-Key Card route as opposed to the 64 GB physical game cartridge option.
“It takes time to ramp up production of multiple storage capacity game cards. Digital games / lower capacity cards offer higher margins for publishers. Digital is the majority of sales.”
Talking of Switch 2, the leaks also apparently contained information about a new game that Arc System Works is developing for Nintendo’s upcoming console. Revealed by XOXLEAK on X, the project, Codename Watari, was slated for a tentative November 25 release.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.
