10 Biggest Gaming Leaks That Were Totally Wrong & More Latest News Here

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is due for release soon, which a number of fans are undoubtedly excited for. This anticipation has been further hyped by a massive leak that revealed a number of new designs and types to be introduced.

Game leaks always cause excitement but not all leaks turn out to be correct, though. Some of them are made by fans and others seeking attention. Sometimes these fan leaks are so well-made or desirable that people mistake them for the real thing. Still, no matter if they were well-intentioned or totally bogus, these leaks ended up being totally wrong.

10 Xbox Series V

The Xbox Series consoles can be a bit confusing. They’ve always had confusing names, and the X|S series continued the tradition of strange names, being drive and driverless versions of the same console. During speculation, some thought there was maybe a third version.

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This would have been the Xbox Series V. Different leaks had their capabilities being different, and the pictured leak, reported by Idle Sloth, had it as essential as the Series S became. Another leak had it be a fully handheld Xbox to compete with the Switch. While this could have been near, this idea ultimately never surfaced.

9 Pokémon Generation 8 Starter Leak

Pokémon Sword and Shield were some of the most hotly anticipated games in the series. It was to be the first mainline Pokémon game on a console. As a result, fans couldn’t wait to see the starters for the region. So enterprising fan 50ShadesOfHeliolisk took a stab at creating their own starter designs.

Fans do this routinely around the time of new games and creating “fakemon” is a tried and true pastime of the fandom. These leaked Pokémon are special, though. These three had some of the most coverage due to how cute these Pokémon were, and even if players didn’t believe the leak, plenty wanted these Pokémon and were disappointed by the true reveal.

8 NX Controller

The Nintendo Switch was one of the most anticipated consoles up to its launch. It was rumored for a long time under the codename NX. While the Wii U had plenty of good games, it left a lot of gamers waiting impatiently for their next console. So when this NX Mockup appeared in 2016, it got a lot of coverage.

The above picture and some additional design blueprints appeared online, giving it some believability. Soon enough though, the creators published a video of themselves creating the leaked console. It was still an interesting what-if idea on what the Switch would become, though.

7 Rocksteady Superman

Rocksteady, the developers behind the Batman Arkham Series, seemed like a natural choice to bring Superman to gaming. The Man of Steel has had many gaming appearances, but his starring roles seem mostly lacking. So when details of an open-world Superman game from the developer appeared in 2018, audiences were convinced. These details included a poster and a GameInformer cover.

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The game would have been set within the same world as the Arkham series and would have featured a nerfed Superman but still allowed players to access a variety of powers. Unfortunately, the studio quickly shut down the rumors, according to ComicYears. Their upcoming Suicide Squad game would feature Superman, but as an antagonist rather than a hero.

6 Dark Souls IIII

Dark Souls is one of the best trilogies in video games. Including other great From Software Soulsborne titles, the number of entries could get as high as seven. Regardless, the core Dark Souls series is a big favorite among players, and a fourth installment has been a talking point for years. This fake leak was set to give fans what they wanted but made a hilarious error.

One look at the fake leak, which was originally posted anonymously online, should be enough to give away it was fake. The graphics do indeed look like what is expected from a fourth Dark Souls game. The logo, however, was definitely designed by someone who didn’t know how Roman numerals worked.

5 Borderlands 3

Borderlands 2 was one of the biggest gaming events of the early 2010s and surprisingly, it took seven whole years for a follow-up to emerge. This was mainly due to changes at the development studio and other behind-the-scene factors. So when the game finally was announced, the hype was at an all-time high.

This is where this leak advertising a trailer allegedly appearing at E3 2018 came from. It featured dark foreboding imagery and details about the game being the darkest in the series, and even came with a release date for the game. Unfortunately for fans, it turned out to be a hoax using a piece of traced art, dissected by MentalMars.

4 Dr. Mario Stage Leak

There are tons of fake leaks related to the Super Smash Bros series. The series is known for its wild guest characters and love of crazy out-there pulls. The Smash series has had a number of leaks but one of its most elaborate, though, was the Dr. Mario stage for Super Smash Bros For Wii U.

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A stage based on the Dr. Mario games seemed like a safe bet. The character hadn’t had a stage but had been with the franchise for the longest time. This leak was posted on Twitter around the time Smash‘s Wii U title was releasing tons of DLC stages. Unfortunately, it wasn’t real, but the creators eventually did release the stage as a mod for the game.

3 E3 2018 Schedule Leak

E3 is a time of rampant speculation about what announcements the game industry has but it’s unfortunately been pushed out of prominence in recent years. Back in years such as 2018, though, it was a prime candidate for leaks, which included real leaks as well as fake ones.

Unlike other fake leaks that need elaborate graphic design, E3 leaks are very simple to create. A fake itinerary full of dates is easy to make on any modern word processor. 2018 was a year with a lot of these types of leaks, including some for Nintendo and Sony’s presentations. The lists included things that wouldn’t happen for years, like Diablo IV and a new Metroid.

2 GTA4 Leak (2006)

Grand Theft Auto is another series with a big and passionate fan base. As such, there are tons of fake leaks for the series, with this one going all the way back to 2006. Back then, these kinds of leaks were not common, and one leak features a female protagonist in a city with a much brighter color palette.

Unfortunately, this leak was for the then-upcoming GTAIV, instead. While Grand Theft Auto 4 is arguably the best one, it definitely didn’t have anything in common with this fake leak.

1 Grinch Leak

2018 wasn’t just home to fake leaked schedules or Borderlands trailers, it also had one of the most elaborate hoaxes in modern gaming history. Super Smash Bros Ultimate had a raucous hype cycle with plenty of exciting reveals. They were revealed one by one on this big poster that fans figured would be for sale but never was actually sold. Some enterprising individual working at a printing company Nintendo had worked with in the past then hatched the idea for the Grinch leak.

They put an edited version of the poster with some added characters on Snapchat. In the background, unreleased merch for Illumination’s The Grinch film could be seen, confirming this as a legit printing house. The “leaked” roster included characters like Shadow the Hedgehog and Banjo-Kazooie. While Banjo did make it into the game, most of the rest of the characters did not. Still, a lot of fans did buy this leak as being legitimate and were crushed when the six additional newcomers promised here turned out to be two. It seems like the Grinch got one over on gamers (via Kotaku).

NEXT: 10 Video Game Characters Who’d Be Great In Super Smash Bros.