The Pokémon Company – and by extension Nintendo – has filed a lawsuit against Pocketpair, the developer of Palworld.
In January 2024, The Pokémon Company issued a press release which said it would “investigate and take appropriate measures” against Palworld, a multiplayer survival game released that month. After months of ominous silence, the firm – owned by Nintendo – has now announced that it’s filing a lawsuit against Palworld developer, Pocketpair.
A statement, dated 18th September and published on Nintendo’s Japanese website (thanks, Gamespot), reads:
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.
Read more: Palworld | How hasn’t it been sued by The Pokemon Company?
First announced in 2021, Palworld's mix of survival mechanics, heavy artillery and whimsical monsters quickly earned it the nickname ‘Pokémon with guns’ – and many of the character models in the game look so close to those seen in the Pokémon franchise that we’ve wondered aloud in the past what Nintendo might make of it all.
Selling some 4 million copies within days of its launch, Palworld was an immediate hit, and while Nintendo was initially quiet about the whole thing, it was clearly aware of it, with the company’s lawyers quickly jumping on a fan-made mod that replaced Palworld’s character models with official Pokémon assets.
Since January, Palworld has amassed sales of 12 million on Steam. Given just how much money its developer is making, the impending lawsuit could prove an expensive one for Pocketpair if The Pokémon Company wins it.
More on this as we get it.
