Nintendo and the Pokémon Company sue Palworld maker Pocketpair [Update]
In June, Pocktetpair's CEO told Game File that Nintendo and Pokémon had raised no concerns over the game
Nintendo and the Pokémon Company are suing the makers of Palworld, one of the year’s most successful games, for patent infringement.
The suit, against Pocketpair Inc, was filed today in Tokyo, per a statement from Nintendo.
“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 companies said in a joint statement.
As for why Nintendo is suing in September when the game came out in January, a Nintendo rep tells Game File: “We filed the lawsuit at this timing after careful investigation of the content that is the subject of this lawsuit. We will refrain from commenting on topics that relate to the content of the lawsuit.”
Several hours after Nintendo’s announcement, Pocketpair issued a statement of its own, stating: “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.”
It continued:
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.
Palworld is a survival game in which players recruit, command and battle with colorful creatures called Pals. Some bear resemblance to Pokémon characters, which helped earn Palworld the moniker “Pokémon with guns” when its first trailer debuted in mid-2021.
But the game does not play much like Pokémon, which involves adventuring your way through turn-based battles, not building bases, putting your colorful friends to work and/or using them in violent, real-time combat. One gameplay similarity: You catch Pokémon/Pals with balls/spheres tossed by the player.
Palworld officially released in January on PC and Xbox. On the latter, it was also offered through Xbox Game Pass. On both platforms, the game quickly drew millions of players (15 million sold on PC in one month; 10 million players reached on Xbox in that time, per Pocketpair).
With launch, the copycat accusations arose again, with more specificity, that some Pals resembled certain Pokémon.
By the end of the month, The Pokémon Company, which is partially owned by Nintendo, issued a statement that it had received many inquiries about a recently released game and noted:
We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon. We will continue to cherish and nurture each and every Pokémon and its world, and work to bring the world together through Pokémon in the future.
Nintendo and Pokémon’s joint statement today specifically refers to patent infringement. It’s unclear if, for this suit under Japanese law, that also encompasses trademarks or copyright. (Game File has asked Nintendo for more details about the lawsuit, which was not immediately available online).
In June at a Summer Game Fest event in Los Angeles, Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe told Game File that Nintendo had raised no concerns with his company about the game. “Nothing at all,” he said. “Nintendo and the Pokémon Company didn’t say anything to us.”
“Of course I love Pokémon and respect it,” he added at the time. “I grew up with it, in my generation.”
After the LA event ended, Pocketpair community manager John “Bucky” Buckley tweeted his thoughts about Summer Game Fest and how energizing it was to be among developers and new games. But, he added, a certain kind of reaction occasionally came up:
Palworld is STILL the boogeyman for some people.
Obviously, we’re more than aware of all the Palworld discourse that floated around at launch:
Palworld was made with AI (False)
Palworld stole assets (False)
Palworld is being sued (False)
Game File has asked Pocketpair for their response to the lawsuit. The company is set to show the latest developments in Palworld at the Tokyo Game Show later this month.
Update: 8:43am ET, Sept. 19: Statement from Pocketpair added above.