Last September, a massive list of potential PC games leaked through Nvidia’s GeForce Now video game streaming service and was posted online. At the time, no one quite knew what to make of it. Was it insider info or speculative placeholders? Now evidence is mounting that at least some of the leak is real with Square Enix officially confirming one of the more eye-catching listings for Kingdom Hearts IV with a splashy reveal over the weekend.
GeForce Now lets players stream games to phones, tablets, and PCs. Launched in 2020, the service has continually been 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.
Video game 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.
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.
Nvidia responded a couple days later denying the leaks contained any confirmation of new PC ports or releases:
NVIDIA is aware of an unauthorized published game list, with both released and/or speculative titles, used only for internal tracking and testing. Inclusion on the list is neither confirmation nor an announcement of any game.
NVIDIA took immediate action to remove access to the list. No confidential game builds or personal information were exposed.
One of the games listed was Halo 5, the only Halo not yet on PC. It seemed a reasonable assumption, but 343 Industries immediately shot the rumor down. As the months went on, however, other parts of the leak were vindicated. There are basically four types of Nvidia listings for unannounced games that have since found support in some way: PC ports, remasters, sequels, and unnamed projects.
One of the most notable