Every developer handles leaks a little differently. Some might [[link]] ignore them outright, while others quietly confirm the legitimacy before trying very hard to pretend it never happened. Infinity Nikki developer Infold, on the other hand, has gone for quite a different tactic: a dramatic plea paired with gifting all its players a mildly threatening hammer.

The cosy dress-up gacha has been dealing with leaks pretty much since it launched—Infold keeps its cards quite close to its chest when it comes to upcoming banners, often not revealing the next outfits until three days before they're due to arrive. As a result, folk have been using the leaks to peer ahead and decide whether to save or spend their precious gems.

Infold hasn't taken too kindly to that, if its recent statement is anything to go by. Several of its social media accounts posted an image reading: "LEAKS, ARE POISON TO ALL CREATION!!" It's accompanied by quite the intense caption.

"Every new version represents countless hours of our team's sleepless dedication and every reveal is a promise we make to you," the post reads. "We pour passion into planning, refining, and optimising so we can deliver that first-moment wonder and a seamless experience. Yet the recent leaks have stifled unreleased creations, disrupted our development momentum, and deprived you of the joy of delivering content as intended."

Infold says the leaks "cause serious harm to our team and to every player who [[link]] cherishes this world," adding: "Obtaining or distributing unreleased game content by illegal means harms our creators and undermines the game experience for everyone. Leaking unreleased game content through illegal channels may yield temporary gains, but will assuredly not evade legal consequences."

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The developer says that it has "launched a full investigation" into recent leaks and "will pursue all responsible parties to the fullest extent permitted by law" before once again declaring "Leaks are poison to all creation!!!"

It's certainly… a lot of feelings. But we're not done yet. Nope. Infold revealed it would be sending an item called Pounding Hammer to players with one final message. "Hammer down every illegal leak, strike every act of theft and distribution! Together, we will defend this infinitely radiant world belonging to all stylists."

Then there's the hammer itself. It's little more than an inflatable pink-and-white deal with the Infold logo emblazoned on it. It's a very infantile design. What's far more interesting, though, is the description for the item: "There are moments when one's hands itch, eager to raise a mighty hammer toward a certain target."

Now, would I argue that that's a wee bit dramatic? Yes, I absolutely would. Do I think Infold is actively inciting violence? No, but it smacks of weirdly unprofessional behaviour from a big developer. This is the sort of thing you put on a Close Friends story, not as an official announcement on a game's social media channels.

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The whole thing has, unsurprisingly, not gone down well with the community either. "It feels like someone's personal vendetta that's been foisted onto me against my will," one wrote, while "passive aggressive and unnecessarily violent".

It's another nail in the coffin for what has been quite a few rough months for Infinity Nikki. From its 1.5 update completely retconning the story in favour of wedging in advertisements for limited-time outfits, to numerous accusations of Infold using AI to translate the game into different languages, things have not been looking good.

Now with the developer shining light on the leaks—which feels like a one-way ticket to backfiring [[link]] massively, if you ask me—and a good chunk of the community seemingly not on Infold's side, things only seem to be getting worse. Hell, I've dropped off the game myself in the last couple months after the 1.5 debacle, and things like this certainly do not encourage me to come back anytime soon.