Nintendo has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair, the studio responsible for Palworld. Palworld, of course, is heavily reminiscent of the Pokémon series, and has attracted a fair bit of criticism—and passionate defence—for how closely some of its creatures resemble those found in Nintendo’s brand.
“The lawsuit seeks an injunction against the defendants and compensation for damages, alleging that the game ‘Palworld’ developed and sold by the defendants infringes multiple patents,” Nintendo writes in its announcement, which I’ve machine translated. “In order to protect the valuable intellectual property that we have built up through many years of hard work, we will continue to take the necessary measures against any infringement of our intellectual property, including our brand.”
The debate over whether Palworld is a blatant Pokémon rip-off or a charming parody started as soon as the game launched in January, when it managed to sell over four million copies within a week. New games hoping to capitalise on the success of wildly popular older games is nothing new, but for some, Palworld seemed too indebted to Pokemon for comfort. Some commentators compared Pokémon 3D model meshes with Palworld’s, prompting Pocketpair dev lead Takuro Mizobe to assure the public that the studio “has no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property of other companies.” (He also called the accusations “slanderous”.)
Before the month was out it was clear the lion had been prodded. Nintendo—or specifically, Nintendo’s The Pokémon Company—announced that it would “investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on the intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon”.
Since then the discourse surrounding the game has calmed. In June, Mizobe told GameFile the studio had heard “nothing at all” about any potential lawsuit. It’s taken Nintendo around eight months to finally pull the trigger on legal action, and in true Nintendo fashion, they’ll fight this vehemently.
