Palworld Lawsuit: Nintendo Takes Legal Action Against Developer Pocketpair

Palworld lawsuit

A Lawsuit was filed by Nintendo Co. against Tokyo-based Pocketpair Inc.. an injunction and compensation for damages were demanded by the makers of the game Palworld.

Nintendo said in a statement the following day, that the case, brought together with affiliate Pokémon Co., was submitted to the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday,

Though Nintendo did not detail which patents it believed were infringed by the game, nor the scale of the relief it seeks.

After debut in January Palworld was an instant success. It raised the profile of its creator Pocketpair and earning the moniker “Pokémon with guns” among fans. The fans saw similarities between the fantastical monsters in the game and those in Nintendo’s famed franchise.

The Patent protection in software typically covers elements of the user experience — rather than the look of characters — and Nintendo may have found gameplay mechanics that it believes infringe on its rights.

Toyo Securities analyst Hideki Yasuda said “Nintendo filing this lawsuit for patent infringement, not copyright violation, means it has given up making the case that Palworld’s characters are similar to Pokémon’s,” he added “But it shows Nintendo has more ways to stop games it doesn’t like. The company owns a lot of patents related to basic game mechanics that are used in many titles available today.”

Nintendo and Pokémon Co. had remained largely silent on the issue for months, before the lawsuit came as a surprise. Though Pokémon Co. had warned that it hasn’t approved any use of its IP for Palworld and would take action if necessary. Microsoft Corp gave full support to the game , to sell related merchandise in its initial distribution and Pocketpair also teamed up with Sony Group Corp. Pocketpair was not immediately available for comment.

The company said in its statement, “Nintendo will continue to take necessary actions against any infringement of its intellectual property rights including the Nintendo brand itself, to protect the intellectual properties it has worked hard to establish over the years,”