The gaming industry is absolutely full of leaks at any one time on what's happening behind the scenes at various companies, including console creators such as Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo, as well as studios both large and small.
It's generally accepted for the most part that this is going to happen, and rarely do we hear of companies taking action against specific leakers, but that's what happened in regards to Activision and Call of Duty this week.
Speaking on social media a few hours ago, well-known Call of Duty leaker TheGhostofHope revealed that they'd been "legally demanded" to stop leaking confidential CoD information, and that they were willing to comply.
"Activision has legally demanded that I stop leaking and disseminating confidential information related to Call of Duty/Activision and I am complying with their demands. Still gonna stick around and chat about Official Call of Duty info and anything not related to leaks/confidential information. Cheers for these past few years."
Surprisingly, this prompted a post from the official Call of Duty account on Twitter, which denied that TheGhostofHope was "right about everything" and insisted that leakers "hurt people building the game" and its players.
Here's a look at that response:
This suggests that we're going to be getting far less Call of Duty leaks in the future, which could be seen as both a good thing and a bad thing. Incorrect leaks can indeed "mess with player expectations" as mentioned, but correct leaks also help to build the hype around an upcoming release, and can actually be very favourable in some instances.
Nevertheless, it sounds like Activision isn't happy about it — and that's ultimately their call to make.