What's Going On With Nintendo's 'Palworld' Lawsuit? The Story Of 'Pokemon VS. Pocketpair' So Far Explained

When Palworld released in January 2024, many felt it was only a matter of time before the notoriously litigious arms of Nintendo went after it.

The monsters in the video game appear to be clearly "inspired" by the designs of Pokémon, to the point where many felt Palworld developers Pocketpair had basically copied Pokémon, though the gameplay between Pocketpair and Palworld was quite different.

Nintendo signaled it was looking into Palworld shortly after the game's release, and last week, the hammer finally dropped, as Nintendo announced it was suing Pocketpair. Still, the content of the lawsuit left many player's eyebrows raised.

Here's what's going on with the Nintendo vs. Palworld lawsuit and how the internet has been reacting to it so far.

What Is Nintendo Suing Pocketpair For?

On September 18th, Nintendo announced that it was suing Palworld developers Pocketpair — but not for copyright infringement, instead, it was going after the devs for "patent infringement."

This surprised readers, as Nintendo is not suing Pocketpair for nicking Pokémon designs, even though the designs of some of the "Pals" seemed nearly 1-for-1 replicas of Pokémon.

What patent Pocketpair allegedly infringed upon is unknown at this time, and the company itself didn't know what patent it infringed upon when it released its statement about the matter.

There is speculation that Nintendo is going after Pocketpair for Palworld's monster catching system, which is similar to that used in titles like Pokémon Legends Arceus and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, but Nintendo got a patent for such mechanics after Palworld's release.

At this time, all guesses as to what patent Nintendo is suing Pocketpair for are merely speculation.

What Has Been The Online Reaction To The Lawsuit?

In the West, gamers seem fairly split on how to take the lawsuit. There are some ardent defenders of Pocketpair, others on Nintendo's side and a sizable chunk of people in the middle who believe Pocketpair was likely infringing on Pokémon, but were ambivalent on Nintendo's mysterious "patent infringement" lawsuit.

Interestingly, Japanese social media seems less conflicted about the lawsuit and firmly on the side of Nintendo, according to reports.

What Are The Likely Outcomes Of The Nintendo-Palworld Lawsuit?

At this point, legal experts are unsure of the strengths of Nintendo's case because the patent they are suing Pocketpair over is unknown.

However, Nintendo's history of crushing those who run afoul of their copyright with litigation leaves little room for optimism for Palworld. It seems likely that the case will be settled out of court for a significant sum of money.

GamesRadar spoke to lawyer Haley MacLean who argued that the lawsuit could be seen as an exercise in Nintendo's strength.

In essence, MacLean says, Nintendo's lawsuit is their way of saying, "Look what we did to this guy, don’t cross us and we won’t do it to you too."

For the full history of the Nintendo vs. Palworld Lawsuit, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.