Yesterday, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company announced they have filed a lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair for infringement of patent rights. Today, Pocketpair posted a response on its website, stating it has received notice of the lawsuit and is currently unaware of the specific patents it has been accused of infringing upon, since it hasn’t been notified of those details. Considering the timeframe between Palworld’s Early Access launch and the filing of the lawsuit, there’s likely a lot to review. For those trying to figure out what exactly Nintendo is claiming against Pocketpair, it remains a mystery.
The company stated it will continue its goal of creating fun games and improving Palworld. The game launched into Early Access in January 2024 and quickly became one of the most popular games, reaching millions of players within days. It clearly draws inspiration from the Pokémon franchise, but is ultimately a crafting survival experience with base building and automation mechanics. Even at its launch, it was clear that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company would eventually have something to say.
You can read the full statement from Pocketpair below.
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 that this news has caused.
As always, thank you for your continued support of Palworld and Pocketpair.
