The Australian company Pokémon Pty Ltd announced a new Pokémon game featuring NFTs. Allegedly, the developers are working together with the Pokémon Company and Nintendo. Now the company is being sued.
This game is about: The “game,” which according to an announcement on the official Pokémon Pty Ltd website was supposed to go online in January 2023, is called PokéWorld. It is a smartphone game where you can fight against Pokémon and catch them as usual.
In battles, your Pokémon, four of which are shown on the page, have different abilities that they can use against their opponents: physical attack, two elemental attacks, and an Ultimate.
There are also items and talismans that can be equipped and used. And they are all NFTs that players can buy and sell. The internal currency of the game, PokéShards, is linked to the cryptocurrency Ethereum.
Company says: They are almost done with a deal – But Nintendo knows nothing about it
On Twitter, the company claimed in November that they are “in contact with Nintendo” and “close to reaching an agreement with them.” However, Nintendo and its subsidiary, the Pokémon Company, seemed to be unaware of this.
Instead, they filed a lawsuit at the Federal Court in Australia on December 19, 2022. The first hearing took place on December 21, during which the representatives of Pokémon Pty Ltd did not appear for the hearing.
Court decides: Game may not be released
What is the lawsuit about? Since Nintendo and the Pokémon Company have no connection to PokéWorld, the lawsuit mainly revolves around stopping the project. The website is supposed to be taken offline, and any use of Nintendo’s assets should cease.
Furthermore, the Pokémon Company stated that they had no connection or contracts with the developer.
Due to the circumstances, the Australian court decided on December 21 that Pokémon Pty Ltd is not allowed to release their game or sell any Pokémon NFTs. In the future, the amount of the penalty for the damage caused will also be discussed.
Pokémon Pty Ltd was originally registered in Melbourne in 2016, but later called itself “Kotiota Studios.” However, the address given on the homepage of the company does not seem to exist. According to the documents submitted to the court, the entire structure belongs to a person named Xiaoyan Liu.
It is therefore not surprising that various graphics on the site, which supposedly belong to the game, appear to have been taken from Artstation and slightly modified so that they do not look exactly like the originals. Two examples of this are yellow and blue potions created by artists Ksenia Murzina and Olekzandr Zahorulko.
While the PokéWorld site remains online and offers an in-browser demo of the game, it is likely only a matter of time before it is taken offline.
