Just as it looked like Palworld might escape Nintendo's gaze, the lawsuit has been filed: Nintendo is suing Pocketpair for patent infringement

Palworld early access — (Image credit: Pocketpair)

Nintendo has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair, the studio responsible for Palworld. Palworld, of course, is heavily reminiscent of the Pokémon series, and has attracted a fair bit of criticism—and passionate defence—for how closely some of its creatures resemble those found in Nintendo's brand.

"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," Nintendo writes in its announcement. "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."

The debate over whether Palworld is a blatant Pokémon rip-off or a charming parody started as soon as the game launched in January, when it managed to sell over four million copies within a week. New games hoping to capitalise on the success of wildly popular older games is nothing new, but for some, Palworld seemed too indebted to Pokemon for comfort. Some commentators compared Pokémon 3D model meshes with Palworld's, prompting Pocketpair dev lead Takuro Mizobe to assure the public that the studio "has no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property of other companies." (He also called the accusations "slanderous".)

Before the month was out it was clear the lion had been prodded. Nintendo—or specifically, Nintendo's The Pokémon Company—announced that it would "investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on the intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon".

Since then the discourse surrounding the game has calmed. In June, Mizobe told GameFile the studio had heard "nothing at all" about any potential lawsuit. It's taken Nintendo around eight months to finally pull the trigger on legal action, and in true Nintendo fashion, they'll fight this vehemently.

The announcement has elicited some interesting reactions on social media. Business lawyer Richard Hoeg wrote on X that, while it's too early to know what's at stake, Nintendo may have a challenge ahead. "Probably going to need more specifics before I can comment more completely, but Palworld is such a different type of game from Pokémon, it’s hard to imagine what patents (*not* copyrights) might have been even plausibly infringed. Initial gut reaction is Nintendo may be reaching."

We've reached out to Nintendo and Pocketpair for comment.

TOPICS

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.