The cult of clout that circles so-called video game insiders appears to be something a handful of terminally online social media users can’t live without, and it can lead to some strange conclusions. Consider the latest online drama, then, which is so bizarre it’s actually started trending overnight. Midori, an alleged SEGA and Atlus know-it-all who garnered a track-record for a series of accurate leaks, has been outed as a fraud.
The supposed snoopster, who assembled an enormous online following, presented themselves as a young Japanese lady – and even used broken English in many of their posts to strangely sell the illusion. It turns out, however, they’re a white man in their 30s, who just so happened to obtain an internal presentation from SEGA which enabled them to successfully leak a handful of projects early on. Once the content dried up, they were apparently working behind-the-scenes to “trade” with others for insider information.
This resulted in the account’s accuracy nose-diving, and many suspected something was amiss. As the heat turned up on Midori’s real identity, a Reddit post exposed all overnight, before promptly being nuked. The user has since admitted to everything. We’re going to refrain from sharing any of the accusations here because it does include personal information, but it’s probably safe to say SEGA may take further action now the individual’s identity has been exposed.
Either way, it’s a reminder, yet again, to cross-examine everything you read on social media. The industry at large, with its cloak-and-daggers secrecy, has cultivated this kind of environment, where tipsters with one or two accurate leaks become heroes among the community. But unless the source is water-tight, it’s best to approach any speculation with a cautious eye – a lot of the time, it’s just individuals desperately chasing Internet fame.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 53
I get you want to remain anonymous as a leaker but it's a bit extreme to also pretend to be a young female.
There's something called V-Tubers if he wants to do that s**t.
@UltimateOtaku91 It gets even weirder when you dig deeper into it. There were people professing their "love" for this character.
Honestly, whole thing is utterly bizarre.
This is so funny😂.
People were in love with this so called Japanese lady😂
I don't want to be that guy but some people should go outside more often
Honestly these Internet dweebs are so icky about any lady on the Internet, bonus points for being East Asian.
But to role play as a young Japanese lady and even going out of your way to speak in broken English is insane.
Like I'm equal parts laughing and shaking my head😬. It's weird as hell
This is beyond bizarre.
@UltimateOtaku91 I know I should just move on with my day but fam I cannot😂😭.
This entire story is so flipping weird.
@Milt Which part of not believing everything you read online and spreading it without cross-examination didn't you understand.
I think it's amusing that a guy who's famous for his leaking info has now had his info leaked, hopefully this will act as a deterrent to future leakers, but I some how doubt it.
So you're saying I was sending my pics to a 30-year old white man?
@Czar_Khastik Did he say "I love you" back.
@Czar_Khastik Maybe it'll make a good story for you to share with the family this evening?
More generally there is a difference between industry insiders, investigative journalists and leakers, who all out information. But regardless their track record is important to me.
If for example Shinobi602, Daniel Ahmad, Jason Schreier, or back in the day Nibel says something they have a pretty reliable track record. That doesn't mean everything ends up panning out exactly but it is far more often then not correct.
Then you get to 'friends' in the industry like Jeff Grubb, Jez Corden etc. who know a lot but often don't have the full picture. They have a much more mixed record because their information is often old, or missing key details.
Regardless as this story proves sometimes their sources of information are cut off and even if they had a great track record that can change. It always needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.
This is some crazy sh*t💀
@Czar_Khastik tfw I’m a 30 year old white man and never got any pictures 😭😭 I’m just doing everything wrong
@UltimateOtaku91 S/he sent me some leaks regarding LOTR: Gollum 2 but apparently that's a fraud as well.
@get2sammyb Hey kids, guess what your dad was doing last night while you were slaying robots with that semi-nude lady in Stellar Blade
@CWill97 You need to pose as a barely legal Chinese woman and make leaks about a non-existent funny sounding game like Wuchong/Wutang/Changtong which you claim is the next Bloodborne coming from a Chinese developer
(Just a disclaimer, this is a stab at all those new similar sounding soulslike games and not at the nationality)
online clout is a weird weird thing. I wonder if this wave will ever crash
Can we include Jeff Grubb in this then?
Cause i’m tired of his shotgun blast “i’ve heard” comments.
@Jacko11 No, because at least Jeff Grubb isn't hiding behind an alter-ego that happens to be a young Japanese girl. And at least he generally is correct, with actual connections.
I already assume everyone on the internet is a 30 something white man.
@Fartingale white? Yes. 30 something? No! Waaay older, Thank the heavens! The world is so messed up and falling apart that I’m glad I’m old. And this article is proof of that.
I genuinely feel fear for the younger generation and the world they will inherit
The internet was a mistake.
People are weird af.
@Fartingale hahaha me too. Believe nothing and trust no one.
Anonymous leakers that pop up out of nowhere should always be taken with an ocean's worth of salt. Say what you want about the likes of Jason Schreier, at least his own name and reputation is on the line every time he publishes something, not to mention the risk of legal action if he knowingly spreads wrong information.
If you can't stop leaking, better buy some diapers,
@get2sammyb bombshell, Jeff Grubb is a Japanese girl pretending to be a white male
This whole thing never sat right with me, there was no way one person would have access to so much info. The best part is he had basically everyone fooled, including actual insiders, who often tried to corroborate with him.
Hilariously, I don't think half as many people would have bought into this without the idea that it was a broken English-using Japanese woman behind the account. Utterly embarrassing, but also quite funny.
You watch, it will be duskgolem to be leaked next...
In fairness, if they were leaking accurate information to start with, then they could legitimately call themselves an insider. Obviously, once the initial information dried up, they then they had nothing further they could add.
Pretending to be a young female, probably had as much to do with attracting horny young men to follow them as anything... 😂
Catfished by a... videogame leaker? That's a new one, folks.
In fairness, my wife’s family all has ADHD, and this is not actually that surprising. The condition will make you do things just for the sake of acting out. Not saying that it was ok, but I’m not shocked about someone having an online persona. It’s not like they were trying to catfish people, internet weirdos just fell in love for some reason????
lol Reminds me of that one female vtuber who was outed as a guy years ago when something malfunctioned during a stream.
In fairness, people misrepresenting themselves on the internet is as old as the internet itself. Anonymity allows people to safely play with the boundaries of expression and identity.
Maybe there's some gender dysphoria behind this. Or maybe they're gay and enjoyed the attention from clueless young men. Or maybe they just enjoyed playing a character utterly unlike themselves online.
Either way, best to just assume any anonymous individual on the English-speaking internet is a white male in their 30s, since you'll probably be right more than half the time.
I honestly dislike leaks, very rarely read any article like this. We must control our anxieties for news. We will know eventualy about new games.
Truly an odd story. But people do things for all sorts of reasons. Clout chasing is out of control though.
There truly are some lonely people out there. For all the good that can come from social media, there is no doubt that there is an equally harmful dark side to it all.
Even outside this strange story, leaks and reporting on leaks is really taking the fun out of announcements which are a huge part of the industry. Now that every site reports on leaks/tweets it’s impossible to just go in blind. I have no social media and still had the Astro Bot reveal spoiled for me, I think from this site.
@ShogunRok many people actually suspected the account changed hands after the first "break from leaking" because "Midori" suddenly threw a ton of info on different publishers beyond SEGA out there.
Turns out we were...technically right about that not being Midori lol
But technically correct is also the best kind of correct so yay for us.
Can't wait for Moist Cr1tikal to cover this topic
Reminds me of the pirate "community" where there are two Russian men pretending to be girls.
As for the video game leaker "community" well just a visit to the gamingleaksandrumors subreddit shows you there's a load of pointless drama. I'm not suprised to learn that this guy is actually a guy and not a "cute Japanese girl" lmao.
Wow, this is like a new world to me. I never gave much thought about following some random leakers. If I have time I'd rather be playing some games.
Twitter user having a field day with this.
I've never really understood the point of video game information leakers. What do you gain knowing something weeks/months/whatever before it's officially announced? Leaking content, I get that, it makes sense. Leak an internal demo of a game? Worthwhile, you get something out of it. But knowing that a game will exist three weeks before the people making it tell you it will exist, wow. Life changing stuff.
I heard a lot of Midori's "leaks" over the past few months and just assumed they were another leaker. Kinda crazy that a bunch of drama unfolded in a short time span with them.
His picture says it all…
I feel like only game journalists are personally offended by someone leaking incorrect information. The rest of us barely even care.
Even without the tabloidesque gender bend reveal here you could still use this headline.
Leaker culture has become such a cesspool. As with this one, it's people with one piece of information that leverage this into a massive discord server and online following where, after they tap out of the info they one-offed, they just start guessing at obvious garbage.
I am the great leaker-ooni. there will be another God of War game, a State of Play before the end of the year and Fortnite will add more characters next month. Whoooaaaoooooaaa
A 30-year-old white guy! I'm shocked I tell you SHOCKED!!
So pathetic, for all involved, it's laughable. 😂
I just find it hilarious that this guy is catfishing other men (these kinds of personas are aimed at men). Is it that hard to make friends? This is absolutely bizarre to me.
@weeniebeenie What I never understood is how come a lot of sheep got fooled thinking it was a japanese girl? HAHAAHAHAH this is certainly one for the history books.
I feel like video game leaks kinda take the fun out of the showcases/events/whatever. I try to avoid them the week of an event by staying off social media but these things get leaked weeks before at times
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