Another devastating Pokémon leak reveals plans for future games, but it's the reported development budgets that have left players stunned

Pokémon developer Game Freak has suffered another huge leak of data, revealing the studio’s purported planned projects until 2030.

The leak comes a year to the day after a “teraleak” of “significant internal data” that revealed unannounced Pokémon games. Game Freak later acknowledged it was hacked, admitting personal employee information had been obtained. Then, in April this year, Nintendo filed a request to subpoena Discord for the hacker’s identity.

This new leak, revealing alleged future projects and concept art from new and old games alike, arrives mere days before the release of Pokémon Legends: Z-A, amid suggestions the same hacker was holding back this information.

The budget for Pokémon Legends: Z-A was reportedly just 2bn yen (around $13m). Typically, Japanese game development budgets are smaller than those we see in the West (for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to lower staff salaries), but this still feels like a very small amount for what is considered one of Nintendo’s most significant series. What’s more, as recent Pokémon games on Switch have suffered from poor performance, there’s concern among the fanbase of a lack of investment to ensure future games run more smoothly.