Is Nintendo Suing Palworld? Legal Threats Loom for Monster Game

Palworld's explosion in popularity has not come without controversy. Palworld’s cute battling creatures have garnered comparisons to Pokémon. This has led to speculation over whether Nintendo will take legal action against the indie hit. So is Nintendo actually suing Palworld developers Pocket Pair?

What is Palworld?

Released in early access in January 2024, Palworld fuses monster hunting, breeding, and battling with survival, crafting, and base-building. Players explore an open world capturing and training cute creatures called “Pals”.

With its monster collection premise and cutesy creature designs, the game has drawn parallels to Pokémon. However, Palworld diverges with mature themes and the ability to kill Pals.

Is Nintendo Suing Palworld?

While not using any Nintendo IP directly, Palworld’s premise and monster designs are deemed too similar. Specific Pals like Jetragon, Anubis, and others share artistic styles with Pokémon such as Latios and Lucario. But in our opinion and hours of playing Palworld, we believe despite creature similarities, the expansive open world and gameplay feel different from Pokemon. 

No claims have been directly made by Nintendo, but a general statement has been passed by the director of Nintendo (when asked about the Palworld controversy) without stating the name of the game: 

We will take appropriate action against those that infringe our intellectual property rights

No Actual Lawsuit Yet

Despite reiterating concerns about protecting intellectual property, Nintendo has not directly sued over IP infringement.

Rumors swirled of legal threats after initial warnings of “appropriate action” against Palworld developers. However, so far no specific litigation against Pocket Pair has commenced.

What Might Happen Next

Pocket Pair asserts that Palworld does not breach any copyrights or trademarks. Pursuing litigation does risk public backlash though, given Palworld's viral popularity. For now, Nintendo seems to be saber rattling to pressure changes without directly initiating legal action.