Palworld developer Pocketpair has shed more light on the specific patent infringement claims Nintendo levvied against it in September.
At the time of the initial suit, the studio alleged it was unaware of what, exactly, Nintendo took umbrage with. Nintendo didn’t list specific patents at the time, but not long after Palworld’s release in January, said it would determine if the game infringed on its own popular Pokémon series.
The three patents—all filed in Japan between May and July 2024—draw similarities between Palworld and 2022’s 2022’s Pokémon Legends: Arceus specifically. Their descriptions concern game mechanics like “riding an object” or throwing a ball to capture and possess a character in virtual spaces.
Patent art showing a player character picked up by a flying Pokémon..
Pocketpair added that Nintendo wants 10 million Yen ($65,450 in USD) in damages, 5 million each for itself and The Pokemon Company, plus late fees and an injunction to block Palworld’s release.
What put Pocketpair on Nintendo’s legal radar
Nintendo often takes legal action against companies it believes have infringed upon or threatened its work in some capacity. The situation with Palworld was thorny enough when it was simply “Pokémon with Guns,” but its subsequent success and Pocketpair’s clear desire to quickly capitalize on that further exacerbates the issue.
Following the suit, analyst Serkan Toto noted that Nintendo may have gone after Pocketpair on both “highly, highly technical things,” and the studio’s Palworld push. He speculated the latter may have truly pushed things over the line, and that Nintendo “saw these guys are getting too aggressive.”
Pocketpair, meanwhile, has reiterated it will not speak with press on the matter unless the situation specifically calls for it, and will “continue to assert our position in this case through future legal proceedings.”