Palworld developer Pocketpair responds to Nintendo Pokémon lawsuit, saying he knew nothing about the patents he allegedly infringed

• September 19, 2024
• Madellina Monica
• popnews

Here is Pocketpair’s full explanation:

About the lawsuit

Yesterday, a patent infringement lawsuit was filed against our company.

We have received notice of this lawsuit and will initiate appropriate legal actions and investigations regarding the allegations of patent infringement.

We are currently not aware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing, nor have we been informed of any details.

Pocketpair is a small indie game company based in Tokyo. Our goal as a company has always been to create fun games, and we will continue to pursue this goal knowing that our games bring joy to millions of players around the world. Palworld was a surprise success this year, both for players and for us. We were overwhelmed by the incredible response to the game and have worked hard to make it even better for our fans. We will continue to improve Palworld and strive to create a game that our fans can be proud of.

It is truly unfortunate that this lawsuit has forced us to spend a lot of time on matters unrelated to game development. However, we will do our best for our fans and ensure that indie game developers are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas.

We apologize to our fans and supporters for any concern or inconvenience this news may have caused.

As always, thank you for your continued support of Palworld and Pocketpair.

Players have been wondering if the lawsuit filed by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company will force the closure of Palworld. As expected, the official Palworld Discord is full of posts from players discussing whether Nintendo could succeed with its lawsuit and what impact it could have on the game.

Meanwhile, Pocketpair continues to update Palworld without paying any attention. Just hours after Nintendo announced the lawsuit, Pocketpair released a hotfix for the Xbox version of Palworld to fix a serious bug where wild Pals and base Pals would sometimes stop moving and functioning. The developer said the same issue is occurring in the Steam version and is working on it.

“Thank you for your continued support of Palworld,” tweeted Pocketpair.

Replies to that tweet were quick to point out the timing of the hotfix. “Please don't ever turn the game off, you're breaking it,” said one fan. “You guys are getting sued and posting hotfixes,” said another. “Not even stunned,” added one user. “Does the bro know they're getting sued?” joked another.

Following Palworld's record-breaking launch in January and subsequent Pokémon settlements, IGN asked experts whether Nintendo could potentially successfully sue Pocketpair. At the time, Peter Lewin, video game attorney at Wiggin, told IGN that given the differences in IP laws around the world, much would depend on which country Nintendo would pursue legal action in. The U.S., for example, has a “notoriously permissive” fair use defense, which may have influenced where Nintendo sued Pocketpair. Nintendo's lawsuit was filed in the Tokyo District Court.

Sam Castree, a copyright lawyer and avid Pokémon player, told IGN that Pocketpair could potentially get a court order to stop it from selling Palworld, but expressed doubts about the likelihood of a lawsuit. However, this analysis was made in the context of a copyright infringement lawsuit. Nintendo is alleging patent infringement in the lawsuit, although the company has not yet provided details on which patents are involved.

Wesley is IGN's UK News Editor. You can find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can contact Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].