After nearly nine months of silence, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are officially suing Pocketpair, the developer of monster-catching game Palworld, for numerous patent infringement claims.
As per a statement released on September 19, Nintendo says that "the lawsuit seeks an injunction against the defendants and compensation for damages", alleging that Palworld infringes on several of Pokémon's patents.
"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 statement concludes.
This lawsuit comes months after Palworld's debut in January, which saw eight million sales during its early access launch and more than five million sales post-release. The game itself has been dubbed "Pokémon with guns", due to its similarities to the best-selling game franchise, especially between Pocketpair's 'Pals' and Nintendo's 'Pokémon'.
Before the legal battle commenced, Pocketpair's CEO, Takuro Mizobe, approached the similarity claims by stating that the company "had no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property of other companies". Despite this, Nintendo issued a statement on the matter and set its intentions to "investigate" any infringement of rights related to Pokémon. While that statement didn't name Palworld or Pocketpair directly, it no doubt left the game developer a touch worried — and now the conclusion of this investigation has resulted in official legal action.
Pokémons or Pals?
If you've been a fan of the third-best-selling game series of all time, then one glimpse of Palworld's monster designs could have you scratching your head. But the designs aren't the only thing that Pals and your favorite Pokémon have in common.
For starters, Palworld is a third-person, open-world survival game. Players can explore a huge world and interact with its animal-like inhabitants, dubbed Pals. There are more than 130 Pals in total, and each of them can be battled in combat, weakened and ultimately captured using a 'Pal Sphere'... seems a little familiar, eh?
Once you’ve caught a Pal, you can summon it in combat to assist you or station it at your home base to help with crafting. Plus, you can play with up to four players and explore the world together.
At the time of writing, Pocketpair has yet to respond to the lawsuit filing. If or when that changes, we'll be sure to keep you in the loop.
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