Nintendo has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair, the studio behind Palworld. Palworld, of course, closely resembles the Pokémon series and has attracted a lot of criticism — and passionate defense — for how closely some of its creatures resemble those found in Nintendo’s brand.
“In this lawsuit, we seek an injunction against infringement and damages because Palworld, a game developed and published by Defendant, infringes multiple patent rights,” Nintendo writes in its announcement“Nintendo will continue to take appropriate action against any infringement of its intellectual property rights, including the Nintendo brand itself, to protect the intellectual property it has worked hard to protect over the years.”
The debate over whether Palworld was a blatant Pokémon knockoff or a cute parody began right after the game’s launch in January, when it sold over four million copies in a single week. New games hoping to capitalize on the success of wildly popular older games are nothing novel, but to some, Palworld seemed too indebted to Pokémon for comfort. Some commentators compared the 3D meshes of Pokémon models to Palworld, prompting Pocketpair lead developer Takuro Mizobe to ensure public that the studio has “no intention of infringing on the intellectual property of other companies.” (He also called the accusations “defamatory.”)
Before the month was out, it was clear that the lion had been provoked. Nintendo — or rather, Nintendo’s The Pokémon Company —announced that it will “investigate and take appropriate measures to address any actions that infringe upon intellectual property rights related to Pokémon.”
Since then, the discussion around the game has calmed down. In June Mizobe told GameFile the studio has heard “nothing” about any potential lawsuit. It took Nintendo about eight months to finally take legal action, and in true Nintendo style, they will be fighting this tooth and nail.