Summary
- Pocketpair has begun legal proceedings in response to Nintendo's lawsuit over Palworld's alleged patent infringement.
- The Palworld developer has not yet been informed of the specific patents its game is alleged to be infringing on.
- Pocketpair called the lawsuit "unfortunate," suggesting it will take away resources that could have been dedicated to Palworld's continued development.
Palworld developer Pocketpair has issued a preliminary public response to Nintendo's lawsuit against it, stating that it started legal proceedings related to the case. Among other things, the company also claimed that it is unaware of any intellectual property that Palworld could be infringing on.
On September 18, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the Palworld developer in the Tokyo District Court. The litigation alleges that Pocketpair's hit game infringes on multiple patents held by Nintendo and The Pokemon Company, a joint venture by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures Inc. The Pokemon Company is also named as the second plaintiff in the case. Although Nintendo announced the case publicly, it did not go into any details regarding its allegations.
First Palworld Pokemon Mod Taken Down by Nintendo
Nintendo wastes no time in cracking down on the first mod that brought Pokemon to Palworld within days of the survival game's release.
Pocketpair Calls Nintendo and The Pokemon Company's Palworld Lawsuit 'Unfortunate'
A day later, Pocketpair publicly acknowledged the lawsuit in a prepared statement, confirming it had been notified about it and had begun the necessary proceedings to defend itself. The studio called this turn of events "unfortunate," noting that the lawsuit will force it to dedicate "significant time" to efforts that are unrelated to the continued development of Palworld.
Pocketpair Doesn't Know What Nintendo's Palworld Lawsuit Is Really About (Yet)
The Palworld developer also said it has not yet learned any details about the plaintiffs' claims, stating it is consequently unaware of the specific patents that its hit monster-taming game is alleged to be infringing on. According to publicly available intellectual property data reviewed by The Best War Games, The Pokemon Company and all of its subsidiaries hold at least 96 patents as of September 2024. Many of these describe game mechanics, like the process of interacting with a character by throwing an object at it, which essentially describes how catching mons with Poke Balls works in many Pokemon games.
Although Nintendo's decision to sue Pocketpair over its 2024 game is not entirely unexpected, many industry watchers previously speculated that any potential litigation would be centered on copyright issues, not least because some of Palworld's creature designs seem to borrow heavily from Pokemon. Shortly following the game's release, former The Pokemon Company top attorney Don McGowan underlined this sentiment by calling Palworld "ripoff nonsense" that surprised him for being allowed to make it as far as it did.
Meanwhile, a patent infringement lawsuit is not something that was widely believed to be on the cards. Patent complaints in Japan typically take between one and two years to reach a first-instance verdict, although they can also end up running for much longer depending on their complexity and court schedule.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 71 /100 Critics Rec: 58%
- Released
- January 19, 2024
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Violence
- Developer(s)
- Pocket Pair, Inc.
- Publisher(s)
- Pocket Pair, Inc.
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- Xbox Series X|S, pc
WHERE TO PLAY
In this game, you can peacefully live alongside mysterious creatures known as Pals or risk your life to drive off a ruthless poaching syndicate. Pals can be used to fight and breed, or they can be made to work on farms or factories. You can even sell them or eat them.
Survival: In a harsh environment where food is scarce and vicious poachers roam, danger waits around every corner. To survive, you must tread carefully and make difficult choices...even if that means eating your own Pals when the time comes.
Mounts & Exploration: Pals can be mounted to traverse the land, sea and sky—allowing you to traverse all kinds of environment as you explore the world.
Collect all kinds of exciting Pals to fight, farm, build, and work for you in this completely new multiplayer, open world survival and crafting game!
- Cross Save
- yes
- Number of Players
- 1-4 (Co-Op); 32 Players Server Limit
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- yes
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X
- Genre(s)
- Open-World, Shooter, Survival
- How Long To Beat
- 36 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 6 GB (February 2024)
