Palworld developer reveals patents Nintendo is suing them over

Pocketpair, the team behind Palworld, has published which patents Nintendo and The Pokemon Company are suing it over. Raised in September after months of radio silence, the companies are claiming that Palworld infringes on three patents.

On top of this, Pocketpair has detailed that the pair are after “compensation for a portion of the damages incurred” between the three patents being registered and the filing of the lawsuit. The Japanese companies are also seeking 5 million yen each, including late fees.

In a short blog, Pocketpair also said that Nintendo wanted an injunction against the game, which would mean the title would have to be pulled from digital stores.

Which patents is Nintendo suing Pocketpair over? Source: Nintendo

The Pokemon Company is claiming that Palworld’s developers are infringing on three patents:

• 7545191: The act of throwing a ball at creatures in an in-game environment
• 7528390: Riding on top of characters
• 7493117: How aiming works

All three are recognizable to Pokemon fans, but the patents weren’t registered until 2021. All three seem to stem from around the time Pokemon Legends: Arceus was in development.

Palworld launched at the top of the year, hitting Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass and becoming a major success. Pocketpair saw over 12 million copies sold in just the first month.

It features similar gameplay to Pocketpair’s other game, Craftopia, with an additional Pokemon-inspired layer on top. When the title was initially revealed, it quickly became a meme that the game was “Pokemon with guns”.

Players build contraptions to earn resources in the game, while also fighting, capturing, and managing their team of critters.

Outside of the crafting loop, Palworld does play fairly similarly to the more recent Pokemon games. Other than that you can shoot the Pals with a machine gun.

Pokemon fans highlighted the similarities between Palworld and the monster-catching franchise around the game’s launch. This included comparing models and even messaging Nintendo themselves about it.

Nintendo finally brings the hammer down on Palworld

In February, Nintendo’s President, Shuntaro Furukawa said they would only sue if Pocketpair were to “infringe our intellectual property rights.”

In Japan, copyright law is taken incredibly seriously. Nintendo has been vicious with who it targets, with multiple emulators and game-hosting sites facing their wrath in recent years. Switch hacker Gary Bowser is expected to spend the rest of his life paying back Nintendo $14 million.

Nintendo has been at the heart of patent disputes before. In 2020, a judge overturned a $10 million Wii motion lawsuit, after Nintendo lost the case in 2017. The Japanese company also held a patent for its particular style of D-Pad for years, but this expired some time ago.

Pocketpair and PUBG publisher Krafton are still working to bring the game to mobile, but the PS5 version of the game has been put on hold for the time being.

Featured image: Flickr, Pocketpair

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