Nintendo Strikes Back: Lawsuit Filed Against ‘Pokémon with Guns’ Game Palworld

A lawsuit alleging patent infringement was been filed in Tokyo District Court by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company against Pocketpair, the developer of Palworld. The lawsuit’s main focus is on claimed patent infringements pertaining to essential gameplay elements and technology used in the Pokémon series. Although Palworld gained notoriety for fusing the monster-collecting elements of Pokémon with a survival game with guns, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company were drawn to the game’s comparable gameplay mechanics and creature designs.

The lawsuit requests damages be paid as well as an injunction to cease the alleged infringement. Interestingly, the focus of this action appears to be on patents rather than copyright, indicating that Nintendo is more concerned with how specific aspects of Palworld’s gameplay can mimic exclusive technologies found in Pokémon games. Among these are the methods used in the game to store and transmit data for the animals known as “Pals” in Palworld. This is important because, although intellectual property rules permit game producers to take inspiration from other works, direct infringement of patented technologies or systems may give rise to legal disputes.

As evidenced by earlier lawsuits, Nintendo has a history of tenaciously defending its intellectual…