Palworld With an Official Statment on the Nintendo Lawsuit

Tough days are ahead for Pocket Pair. Nintendo has finally addressed the similarities between Palworld and Pokémon, filing a lawsuit against the company for patent infringement. Pocket Pair took to X (formerly Twitter) and their official website to share their statement about the situation.

The Palworld-Nintendo Lawsuit Explained

Since its release, Palworld has been called “Pokémon with Guns.” Surprisingly, it took Nintendo quite a while to address the glaring similarities between the hit indie game and their long-established franchise. This resemblance has divided the gaming community, with some accusing the indie studio of merely making a different version of an iconic product, while others defend their creative freedom.

Many players have pointed out that the premise of Palworld, as well as the character design of the Pals and their method of capture, is allegedly a reimagining of Pokémon.

Here’s the official 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.

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."

Official Palworld Statement

Pocket Pair announced today that they are aware of the ongoing lawsuit but claim they have not yet been informed of the specific patents they are accused of infringing upon. In their message, they remind the gaming community that they are a small indie studio based in Japan, and their ultimate goal has always been to create fun projects, despite the unexpected success of Palworld.

Unfortunately, according to the statement, the team will have to spend less time working on the game in order to focus on the lawsuit. This seems like a difficult decision for the studio, though it may affect their ability to develop the game further.

The official statement ends with a thank-you message to the fans of Palworld.

Here’s the statement from Pocket Pair’s official X page:

"Regarding the Lawsuit

Yesterday, a lawsuit was filed against our company for patent infringement. We have received notice of this lawsuit and will begin the appropriate legal proceedings and investigations into the claims of patent infringement. 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. 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. It is truly unfortunate that we will be forced to allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development due to this lawsuit. However, we will do our utmost for our fans and to ensure that indie game developers are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas. We apologize to our fans and supporters for any worry or discomfort this news may have caused.

As always, thank you for your continued support of Palworld and Pocketpair."

What’s Your Take?

What’s your opinion on this lawsuit? Do you think it’s long overdue, given the similarities between Palworld and Pokémon, or are you on the side of Pocket Pair? We’ll keep you updated on any developments.