A Google employee may be responsible for a number of significant leaks affecting Nintendo-developed or -upcoming titles. Google staff members' access to YouTube, the company's video hosting and streaming service, is at issue with the Nintendo leaks. 

The video game business has always struggled with leaks and rumors. A well-crafted marketing strategy can be completely derailed by leaks of impending releases, but more significant disclosures of confidential or business information might even have a negative impact on investor confidence or a company's standing with partners and the media. Leaks happen to everyone, even Nintendo. On social media, leakers get attention and followers by making vague references to upcoming releases. Insiders and leakers have even now suggested that the Mario Party devs may be working on a new Nintendo project.

According to a recent study released by 404 Media, there appears to be at least one instance of an employee or employees of Google using YouTube as a means of video distribution involved in the leak scene. Major firms' streaming plans have been leaked in recent months, and the YouTube administration is actively looking for people who may be involved.

The basis for 404 Media's report is an internal database of privacy and security issues that Google itself leaked, not a game company, but rather an employee of Google that reported the issues and incidents internally. These issues and incidents ranged from technical flaws in third-party software to malfunctions in Google-operated services that unintentionally revealed private or confidential information. The incident that was relevant to the report involved a Google employee that gained access to private videos on Nintendo's official YouTube account, using that access to leak information about the company's impending announcements. Nintendo broadcasts its wildly popular Nintendo Direct broadcasts exclusively via YouTube.

Although the timing of the leak incident was not mentioned in the report, there have been several Nintendo Direct broadcast leaks in advance. Therefore, any incident that occurred in the last several years may be mentioned in the report. The study does clarify a potential technique employed by different anonymous leakers to expose anything from video from Grand Theft Auto 6's trailer to PlayStation State of Play broadcasts. Employees with internal access to company YouTube accounts would check or watch private or unlisted videos that company employees had uploaded in advance and set to be live at a specific time. They would then spread the word about these videos on social media or within their local communities.

Given how damaging leaks may be in some circumstances, it's not surprise that companies are looking for leakers, but the research shows that insiders at the companies themselves are not the only individuals who could pose a threat to their operations. YouTube itself may act as a venue for these kinds of instances due to the tremendous demand for first knowledge regarding the releases and launching of new games.