One of Steam’s most successful games is under fire as Palworld faces a new lawsuit filed by Nintendo and The Pokemon Company. The survival game rocketed to the top of the Steam charts in January, and was quickly given the moniker of ‘Pokemon with guns’ due to its cast of adorable animal companions. However, it has also faced questions about numerous design similarities to existing creatures from the Pokemon series, and now Palworld developer Pocketpair is facing legal action from Nintendo itself.
Ever since it first appeared, the biggest talking point around Palworld has been the designs of its Pals, which in many cases bear resemblance to certain Pokémon. In January, shortly after Palworld’s launch, a statement from The Pokemon Company commented on “many inquiries regarding another company’s game released in January 2024,” although it did not name the survival game directly, and stated “we intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokemon.”
Now, that action has come to pass. A new press release published by Nintendo states: “Nintendo Co., Ltd. (HQ: Kyoto, Minami-ku, Japan; Representative Director and President: Shuntaro Furukawa, ‘Nintendo’ hereafter), together with The Pokemon Company, filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court against Pocketpair, Inc. (HQ: 2-10-2 Higashigotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, ‘Defendant’ hereafter) on September 18, 2024.”
“This lawsuit seeks an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds that Palworld, a game developed and released by the defendant, infringes multiple patent rights,” the statement continues. “Nintendo will continue to take necessary actions against any infringement of its intellectual property rights including the Nintendo brand itself, to protect the intellectual properties it has worked hard to establish over the years.”
This morning, a statement has been shared via Discord by Pocketpair community manager ‘Bucky’ responding to the lawsuit. “Yesterday, a lawsuit was filed against our company for patent infringement. We have received notice of this lawsuit and will begin the appropriate legal proceedings and investigations into the claims of patent infringement. At this moment, we are unaware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing upon, and we have not been notified of such details.”
“Pocketpair is a small indie game company based in Tokyo. Our goal as a company has always been to create fun games. We will continue to pursue this goal because we know that our games bring joy to millions of gamers around the world. Palworld was a surprise success this year, both for gamers and for us. We were blown away by the amazing response to the game and have been working hard to make it even better for our fans. We will continue improving Palworld and strive to create a game that our fans can be proud of.”
“It is truly unfortunate that we will be forced to allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development due to this lawsuit. However, we will do our utmost for our fans, and to ensure that indie game developers are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas. We apologize to our fans and supporters for any worry or discomfort that this news has caused. As always, thank you for your continued support of Palworld and Pocketpair.”
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