This week, Nintendo made headlines in the gaming world by filing a lawsuit against Pocketpair, the developer of Palworld, for allegedly violating “numerous patent rights.” Although Nintendo has not specified the patents in question, and Pocketpair is in the dark as well, industry analyst Serkan Toto believes Nintendo is likely to come out on top in this legal battle.
In a conversation with 404 Media, Toto, who leads the gaming consultancy Kantan Games in Japan, pointed out that Nintendo has a track record of suing companies over patent issues. Even when cases are settled outside of court, they often result in Nintendo either securing licensing fees or having a game, application, or product removed from circulation.
Toto commented, “I believe they are trying to inflict as much financial harm as possible on Pocketpair. I doubt Nintendo would pursue a lawsuit like this without confidence in their chances of winning.”
Although Palworld hadn’t even launched its early access phase in January 2024, many gamers quickly noted its resemblances to Pokémon, dubbing it “Pokémon with guns” in discussions. Following its release, some players observed that the creatures known as Pals in the game bore striking similarities to well-known Pokémon designs. However, while capturing creatures is a key element, Palworld emphasizes survival, crafting, and utilizing Pals for resource management over just collecting them. This has led to speculation about whether Nintendo would take legal action.
The specific patents invoked in the lawsuit have not yet been confirmed, but many speculate that one may reference a patent for capturing characters with a ball.
Toto suggests that Nintendo is likely motivated by the financial success of Palworld and sought to address it, although they couldn’t pursue the creature designs directly due to lack of a valid claim there.
“It’s clear that Nintendo has a strong dislike for this company, and since they couldn’t find a grounds for arguing against the creature designs, they’re focusing on these technical details instead,” Toto stated.
It appears that Nintendo is more interested in securing licensing fees from Pocketpair rather than shutting down the game completely. Nevertheless, this lawsuit could be damaging for the smaller developer. Toto compared it to Nintendo’s previous lawsuit against Colopl, a mobile game developer, concerning patent infringement, leading to a settlement where Colopl paid a 3.3 million yen fee, along with ongoing licensing obligations, according to Siliconera.
“I’m confident that Nintendo wouldn’t have filed this lawsuit unless they were highly certain of their likelihood to win,” Toto added.
Known for its aggressive legal tactics, Nintendo’s recent focus has largely been on suing entities involved in emulation hardware and software. Earlier this year, the developers of the Switch emulator Yuzu settled for $2.4 million and ceased operations immediately. Additionally, Nintendo has issued cease-and-desist letters to numerous fan projects, resulting in the removal of around 379 games from Game Jolt in 2021.