The crazy survival game Palworld launched in January 2024 in Early Access on Steam as well as Xbox and became a mega hit. Due to the obvious similarity of some monsters to Pokémon, many believed a lawsuit from Nintendo was imminent – and now the creators of Pokémon have initiated legal action.
Update 12:05 – The developers of Palworld have now issued a statement regarding the lawsuit. Here’s the article.
Palworld, long described as “Pokémon with guns,” seemed destined for a lawsuit, especially since Nintendo is known not to have much fun with copyright issues. However, as of June 2024, half a year after the Early Access launch, the developers reported that they had not heard anything from the company behind Pokémon. That is changing now.
So this is how it begins
This is the lawsuit: Nintendo announced in the night from September 18 to 19, 2024 our time that it had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Palworld creator Pocketpair together with the Pokémon Company at the Tokyo District Court.
The lawsuit concerns injunctions and damages. Palworld is alleged to have violated several patent rights.
Nintendo also announced that it will continue to take “necessary steps” against the violation of its property rights to protect the intellectual property that has been built up over years of hard work (via Nintendo).
On X, formerly Twitter, users are wondering why Nintendo waited so long to take action against Palworld. However, preparing such a lawsuit can indeed take a few months.
Particularly the fact that Nintendo took so long is seen as a bad sign for Palworld: This could mean that Nintendo waited until they had a case they were sure they could win. (via X).
Notably, Nintendo apparently does not refer to copyright but to patent law. So it may be less about the design of the creatures, where fans had noted great similarity to Pokémon from the beginning. Instead, it may refer more to game mechanics such as monster catching.
In January 2024, we already asked the well-known lawyer Christian Solmecke for an assessment of the situation:
Could Nintendo successfully sue the Steam hit Palword? – We asked a lawyer
It is still unclear what it will mean for the future of Palworld if Nintendo is successful with its lawsuit. Just a few days ago, the creators talked about how the Creature Collector will proceed and discussed possibilities for future monetization: Head of Palworld explains why his game won’t become a hated live-service game
