Palworld Developer Responds to Nintendo/Pokemon Lawsuit, Suggests Possible Content Delays

Pocketpair says it now has to "allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development."

By Marc Deschamps

Yesterday, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company announced a joint lawsuit against Pocketpair, the developer behind Palworld. The lawsuit did not relate to copyright infringement, as many might have expected, but instead patent infringement. This morning, Pocketpair responded to the lawsuit with a post on X/Twitter. Pocketpair says that it's "unaware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing upon, and we have not been notified of such details." The statement also seems to suggest that the lawsuit could lead to longer waits for updates and new content, as the company focuses on the lawsuit instead of working on development. 

"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," the statement reads. 

The original statement from Nintendo offered no information on the patents Pocketpair is accused of infringing upon, and it will be interesting to learn more details about the overall case. Since Pokemon Red and Green's release in 1996, the franchise has inspired a plethora of similar games, all of which have attempted to recreate Pokemon's success. Many of those "Pokemon-like" games have ended up on Nintendo platforms as well, including the Nexomon series. Those games have not received similar lawsuits, so it will be interesting to learn more about the actual infringement, and how Pocketpair might have crossed a line that other companies managed to avoid. 

At this time, it's unclear how this case will shake out, and what impact it will have on Pocketpair's immediate plans. Palworld will be at Tokyo Game Show later this month, where a version for PlayStation 5 will apparently be revealed. This summer also saw the announcement that Pocketpair had partnered with Sony Music Group and Aniplex to create Palworld Entertainment, a joint venture focused on "expanding commercial business endeavors, including the global licensing and merchandising activities" of Palworld. 

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Closing out today's statement, Pocketpair thanked fans for the support, and also offered an apology "for any worry or discomfort that this news has caused." 

Are you interested to see how this case shakes out? Do you think Pocketpair infringed on any patents? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

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