At the time, no one quite knew what to make of it. Was it insider info or speculative placeholders? With Square Enix officially confirming one of the more eye-catching listings for Kingdom Hearts IV with a splashy reveal over the weekend, evidence is mounting that at least some of the leak is real. The large list of potential PC games was leaked through Nvidia’s GeForce Now video game streaming service and posted online last September. While many people suspected that some of the titles on the list were not real, or were in development but had not been officially announced, the confirmation of Kingdom Hearts IV suggests that at least some of the leak is accurate. This is good news for gamers who have been waiting for more information about potential upcoming releases.
In 2020, GeForce Now launched a gaming streaming service that lets players stream games to phones, tablets, and PCs. The service is constantly adding support for new games, which requires testing and coordination with publishers and studios. So when dozens of unannounced PC game titles surfaced from its database, people took notice. While it's unclear how these titles ended up in the database, it's possible that they were added in error or that they are part of a future update that has not been announced yet. In any case, the appearance of these unannounced games highlights the potential of GeForce Now and its ability to give gamers access to a wide range of titles. With continued support from major publishers and studios, GeForce Now could become the go-to service for gaming.
The game industry is one that is always changing and evolving. New technologies and ideas are constantly being introduced, and it can be hard to keep up with the latest trends. However, one thing that remains constant is the reliance on placeholders. Storefronts and platforms use placeholders all the time, and the industry’s heavy reliance on sequels and spin-offs means it’s not hard to guess at least some of what publishers are working on at any given moment. Nintendo will make another 3D Mario and Activision will make another Call of Duty. But in some cases the Nvidia leak went deeper than that, using project code names and specifying unlikely remasters and as the confirmations pile up people are starting to take it more seriously.
The Nvidia leak dates back to September 12, 2021. A developer from Ukraine going by Ighor July shared a post on Medium where he detailed how he stumbled onto a phantom list of thousands of GeForce Now games back in May of that year. Unlike other streaming services, GeForce doesn’t actually contain any games. Instead, it helps you stream the ones you already own on services like Steam and Epic Games Store. The leaked games list includes several big-name titles that are not currently available on GeForce Now, leading many to believe that Nvidia is planning to add them in the near future. However, it’s also possible that the list is outdated or never intended for public release. In any case, the leak provides an interesting glimpse into many games.
July was able to mess around with the backend and accidentally access listings for games that weren’t officially supported by GeForce, as well as a bunch that didn’t even exist. SteamDB operator Pavel Djundik posted the list to Github, and breakouts of the more notable entries were shared on places like the Gaming Leaks and Rumors subreddit. Among the games listed were ones that have been heavily rumored or requested by fans, like Half-Life 3, Left 4 Dead 3, and Diablo 4. While it’s possible that these listings are simply placeholder entries created by Nvidia, it’s also possible that they represent games that are actually in development. Either way, it’s exciting to see what could be.
The E3 leak was originated from an Nvidia employee who posted a list of unannounced games that were going to be revealed at the event. One of the games mentioned was Halo 5, which lead many to believe that the game would eventually be coming to PC. However, 343 Industries quickly shut down this rumor. Even though Halo 5 wasn't announced for PC at E3, there were other parts of the leak that ended up being true. There are four types of Nvidia listings for unannounced games: PC ports, remasters, sequels, and unnamed projects. All of these types of games were revealed at E3 in some capacity. Even though Halo 5 wasn't one of them, it's still possible that the game could come to PC.
One of the most notable in the first category was God of War. In October, Sony confirmed the 2018 PS4 exclusive would arrive on PC early in 2022. The company had already begun bringing its biggest games to PC with Days Gone and Horizon: Zero Dawn, so God of War following suit wasn’t entirely unexpected. But if the Nvidia leak was just placeholders, you might have expected it to include listings for Spider-Man or The Last Of Us as well. It didn’t though. It did, however, list games like Demon’s Souls, which also hasn’t been announced for PC. So while it’s possible that the listings were just low-effort placeholders.
Helldivers 2 is a theoretical sequel to the 2015 top-down co-op shooter for PS Vita that later came to PC. Its developer, Arrowhead Game Studios, hasn’t released a game since, but it’s currently working on a third-person co-op shooter with “next-gen” graphics. Without the leak, Helldivers 2 would never have made it onto my not-E3 2022 bingo card in a million years, but it’s too much of a hyper-specific deep cut to ignore. We’ll find out either way eventually. In the meantime the truth could be out there, thanks to Nvidia.
Leave a Reply