It’s official: Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are taking legal action against Palworld’s developer, Pocketpair.
The companies filed a lawsuit against the developer today, September 18, seeking “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.”
We posted the News Release “Filing Lawsuit for Infringement of Patent Rights against Pocketpair, Inc.”https://t.co/76ttENZXtv
— 任天堂株式会社（企業広報・IR） (@NintendoCoLtd) September 18, 2024
“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,” Nintendo’s statement reads.
The filing is absolutely massive news and follows months of speculation that Nintendo would take legal action over the indie survival game that’s been referred to as “Pokémon with guns.” Nintendo previously released a statement about Palworld in January, vowing that intended “to investigate and take appropriate measures” against any potentially infringing content. A modder also claimed that “Nintendo has come for me” after posting a clip with Pokémon’s Ash Ketchum in Palworld.
But six months later, in June, Pocketpair insisted that Nintendo had yet to make a complaint in response to the “Pokémon rip-off” claims. “Nintendo and the Pokémon Company didn’t say anything to us,” Pocketpair boss Takuro Mizobe told Game File at the time. “Of course I love Pokémon and respect it. I grew up with it, in my generation.”
Palworld launched in early access form in January 2024 on PC via Steam and on Xbox as a day-one Game Pass title and catapulted to tremendous overnight success, but also controversy. Pokémon fans were quick to call out the similarities in Palworld, although the indie developer insisted that Palworld is more akin to survival crafting games such as Ark Survival Evolved and Valheim than Pokémon. Pocketpair’s community manager even said the team has received death threats over the backlash.
IGN has reached out to Pocketpair for comment.
In our early access review, we acknowledged that Palworld “may crib quite a bit from Pokémon’s homework, but deep survival mechanics and a hilarious attitude make it hard to put down.”
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
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