A Gamestop employee who sparked speculation regarding the Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom special edition Nintendo Switch Pro console has claimed they were fired following pressure by Nintendo itself.
While the special edition Switch Pro was only officially confirmed by Nintendo during its Direct broadcast last month, fans had long expected a Zelda-themed model to arrive alongside the upcoming game. Indeed, earlier leaks online had even suggested at its design.
So when Massachusetts GameStop employee Mike (last name kept anonymous) saw a “HW TBD Switch” entry pop up on his store’s system hours before the Direct’s broadcast, it didn’t seem too surprising. Mike snapped a picture of the screen and uploaded it to reddit.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Mr. Aonuma Gameplay Demonstration Watch on YouTube
As Kotaku reports, the reddit post was quickly traced back to Mike using his account name and publicly identifiable details about his identity. Within a week, Mike had met with his manager and been suspended. Within two weeks, he was fired.