On November 1st, 2018, Nintendo streamed the final Nintendo Direct for Super Smash Brothers Ultimate. The inclusion of the Grinch led to jokes about the Grinch being involved in Smash, either as a playable character or the force behind the leak (examples shown below). It was confirmed that Bricard works for the company and that Marina was working with Bandai Namco.įurthermore, there were several as-yet unused promotional artworks for the upcoming film The Grinch in the original photo, confirming that Bricard had access to unused promotional materials. A 4chan user was able to discover an Eric Bricard on LinkedIn who worked with a French marketing firm, Marina workshops, that handles displays for numerous companies. Additionally, the name of the French Snapchat user, blocked out in the original leaked image, was able to be uncovered. For example, the background for the artwork is a never-before-used template for the Battlefield stage of Super Smash Brothers, making the artwork likely legitimate. According to a lengthy thread by Twitter user internet sleuths were able to discover several clues that helped give the leak legitimacy.