After months of waiting, it finally happened – Nintendo filed a lawsuit against Palworld’s creator company, Pocketpair. The news came on September 18, and we’re eager to see what happens between the two companies.
In an official post on the Japanese Nintendo site, the company confirms plans to file a lawsuit for ‘Infringement of Patent Rights’ against Pocketpair. This sees both Nintendo and The Pokémon Company come together to file the lawsuit in Tokyo this week, effectively putting any hopes of a Palworld Switch port to rest.
The lawsuit seeks “an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages” due to Palworld infringing ‘multiple’ patent rights. Nintendo confirms it will continue to take action against infringements in the future to “protect the intellectual properties” the company established over the years.
It’s important to note that this lawsuit is for infringing patents, not copyrights. To put it simply, this means Nintendo accuses Pocketpair of using its inventions or ideas (namely, cute animalistic monsters you can battle with) – Nintendo isn’t suggesting that Pocketpair is using specific creatures or designs.
Pokémon is a wholesome franchise, and the fact that Palworld is frequently described as ‘Pokémon with guns’ ever since its debut trailer in 2021 doesn’t help to keep Nintendo’s family-friendly image up.
Pocketpair released Palworld released in January 2024, but after a few months of deliberation, it seems Nintendo finally decided that a lawsuit is indeed worth it. However, back in June, the CEO of Pocketpair stated that Nintendo hadn’t raised any concerns at the time – though the team was quick to shut down any mods that crossed the line.
While some can argue that Pokémon simply influences the designs, some of the monsters are a little too similar, and I bet if I show them to my parents, they’d not know the difference at all.
If you want to get further into Pokémon, we can help – here are our picks for the best gen 8 Pokémon, how to deal with electric Pokémon weakness, and we have the new Pokémon Go codes for you mobile players.