Palworld, colloquially known to fans as “Pokémon with guns,” is in hot water. Nintendo and The Pokémon Company announced Thursday that they’ve filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Tokyo against Pocketpair, the company behind the game, claiming Palworld “infringes multiple patent rights.”
The lawsuit isn’t completely unexpected. In Palworld, players catch creatures by weakening them and trapping them in Pal Spheres, similar to Poké Balls. Fans have also pointed out numerous similarities in design between Pals and Pokémon. Players have also drawn Nintendo’s ire for creating mods that make the connection explicit by including actual Pokémon.
Curiously, though, Nintendo’s statement alleges patent violations, not copyright ones, which may indicate the suit could be more about game mechanics than creature design.
Palworld, released in January, was an instant success. Within its first month, the open world survival game sold more than 12 million copies and became Microsoft’s biggest third-party Game Pass launch ever.
On Thursday, as news of the lawsuit spread, Pocketpair released a statement saying the company was “unaware of the specific patents [it is] accused of infringing upon,” but vowing to investigate the claims.
