Nintendo and Pokemon Hit Palworld With a Lawsuit
Pocketpair's breakout hit Palworld achieved massive success this year, but Nintendo and Pokemon had other plans.
- Launched in January 2024 through early access, Palworld played a huge role in the direction of the gaming industry this year.
- Due to its monster-taming genre and alleged similarities to Pokemon, Nintendo already had its eyes on Pocketpair after the game's release.
- The Legend of Zelda developer has filed a lawsuit against the indie studio, claiming that it infringes its patent rights.
Right at the beginning of 2024, Palworld made quite a confident entrance into the world of gaming with a fresh take on the monster-taming genre, as even in its early access phase, the game broke numerous records and set a new standard for the industry in general. However, leading up to its release, the comparisons with one of Nintendo’s flagship IPs were inevitable, as the title was already widely dubbed “Pokemon With Guns,” leaving developer Pocketpair in a dangerous situation.
Now, exactly eight months after its January 19 launch date, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have finally come for the breakout indie action-adventure game, hitting it with a lawsuit for the alleged infringement of their patent rights.
Exactly Eight Months After Palworld’s Release, Nintendo Has Come for Pocketpair
Managing to create its own space in the realm of gaming with a community that stuck by the game even when it lacked new content for months, Palworld succeeded on multiple fronts and proved that a studio does not have to be classified as AAA to provide an enjoyable video game.
But knowing Nintendo’s previous track record, it was only a matter of time before Pocketpair had to deal with a lawsuit from the company, as it quickly took notice of the situation months ago and took its time to make up a compelling enough case to be considered in a court of law. Earlier today, The Legend of Zelda developer officially announced that it is joining forces with The Pokemon Company and filing a lawsuit against Pocketpair, the Japanese studio behind the first surprise hit of 2024.
The lawsuit was filed on September 18, and it “seeks an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds that Palworld infringes multiple patent rights.” Stating that it has taken the company a lot of time “to establish” its brand and grow the popularity of Pokemon through numerous titles, Nintendo has confirmed that it will keep taking “necessary actions” against anyone who tries to infringe its IP rights.
Pocketpair Responds to the Lawsuit, With Fans Sticking by the Developer
It did not take long for Pocketpair to share the news with its own fanbase on X, admitting that the developer is currently “unaware of the specific patents” that Nintendo is suing it for, as the company has not exactly revealed any of the details yet.
“It is truly unfortunate that we will be forced to allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development due to this lawsuit,” continued the studio behind Palworld, while adding that it does not want this lawsuit to discourage other indie developers to stop creating fresh gaming experiences.
The community reaction to the lawsuit shows that fans are sticking by Pocketpair, believing that a massive company like Nintendo can’t keep getting away with suing smaller developers as soon as it faces some sort of competition in the industry.
Of course, a widely recognized sentiment even among Pokemon fans has been that the IP has not really produced anything worthwhile in a very long time, so Palworld trying to do something new with the concept should not have met this fate.
It will definitely be interesting to see how things shape up from here on out, especially considering Palworld’s recent partnership with Sony, a direct competitor for Nintendo in the gaming industry.
