Nintendo and the Pokemon Company have officially filed a lawsuit against Pocketpair, Inc., the developers of the popular sandbox suvival game Palworld.
Originally released as a PC and Xbox exclusive, Palworld features monsters that players can capture and use as tools to survive in it's sandbox environment. Dubbed "Pokemon with Guns" by many players; the game also allows the world's monsters, known as "Pals," to use weapons rather than simply using their own attacks.
While monster catching games aren't exclusive to Pokemon (nor was Pokemon the first to do so, as series like Megami Tensei actually came first), Palworld faced scrutiny for it's designs. Instead of being fully original concepts, nearly every Pal mirrors an existing Pokemon. In fact the similarities are so striking, that it would be easy to mistake a Pal for said Pokemon.
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| (No that isn't Lucario, that's Anubis.) |
While Pocketpair has yet to comment on the matter, here is the official statement as seen on Nintendo's website.
Filing Lawsuit for Infringement of Patent Rights against Pocketpair, Inc.
Nintendo Co., Ltd. (HQ: Kyoto, Minami-ku, Japan; Representative Director and President: Shuntaro Furukawa, “Nintendo” hereafter), together with The Pokémon Company, filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court against Pocketpair, Inc. (HQ: 2-10-2 Higashigotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, “Defendant” hereafter) on September 18, 2024.
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.
About Palworld:
Palworld is a game about living a slow easy-going happy life with mysterious creatures called "Pal'' or throwing yourself into life-and-death battles with the villainous poachers.
Riding and Exploration
You can effortlessly make them fly, swim, drive a car, saddle on their back or shoulder, also dig holes somewhere if you want...
This way you can explore all kinds of places on land, sea, and in the sky by riding Pals.
Building
Do you want to build a pyramid? A spaceship? A garden? Maybe just a house? You can have a large number of Pals work on the construction. Don't worry, labor laws won't be applied to Pals, feel free to work them into the ground.
Life
Make your carefree life more comfortable by collecting a variety of valuable Pals to light fires, generate power, water your plants, thwart threats away from your camp, and mine minerals.
Farming
Different Pals are good at different things such as sowing crops, watering your vegetables, harvesting your yield, cleaning your camp and much more. Create attractive farms and orchards with your Pals. There are also Pals that can duplicate themselves when they're planted. What do they turn into? Eat them after and find out!
Factory and Automation
Automation is essential for your factory production since your life must maintain a happy and carefree style. That's when the Pals come to do the manual work for you. Build a factory and place Pals in it. They will work forever as long as they're fed, until the end of their lifetime or beaten to a pulp by the factory boss. The meaner the factory boss, the quicker you get results or quicker your Pals reach their destiny?
Dungeon Exploration
With Pals, you'll be safe in dangerous areas. If you are in danger, you use Pals to cover your escape! They'll give their lives to protect you without even thinking twice.
Breeding and Heredity
When you breed Pals, they inherit the parents characteristics. Mix rare species of Pals to raise the strongest Pals to tackle the fiercest of foes you'll find in Palworld!
Poaching and Crime
Endangered species of Pals live in the hunting prohibited area. If you sneak in and catch them, you'll get tons of money! It's only illegal if you get caught.
Multiplayer
This game supports multiplayer. Invite your friends to go on an adventure together. Of course, you can battle and trade with other players!
Survival
This world is full of dangers such as food shortages, harsh weather, and illegal poachers. You must be prepared to do anything if you want to survive. You may even need to consume Pals sometimes...
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