Pocket Pair, the developer of 'Palworld,' has revealed that the 2024 update is due to ongoing litigation and disputed Nintendo's claims. What is the reaction overseas?



Regarding the lawsuit filed by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company against Pocket Pair, developer of ' Pal World ,' for patent infringement, Pocket Pair argued that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company's patents are invalid, and revealed that 'changes were made to the specifications that are subject to patent infringement in updates after patch v0.3.11 released in November 2024.'

Palworld's specification changes and future plans regarding pending litigation | Pocket Pair Co., Ltd.
https://www.pocketpair.jp/news/20250508?lang=ja



The case in which Nintendo and The Pokémon Company sued Pocket Pair is summarized in detail in the following article. The Pokémon Company claims that there was patent infringement in the parts related to elements such as riding characters and throwing balls on the field.

Nintendo and The Pokemon Company sue Palworld developer for patent infringement - GIGAZINE



Pocket Pair stated, 'In the current patent infringement lawsuit, we believe that Palworld does not infringe any of the patents asserted by the plaintiffs, and we are continuing to take action against it. We also assert that all of the plaintiffs' patents are invalid.'

Palworld developer claims in lawsuit against Nintendo that many games, including 'FF', 'Monster Hunter' and 'The Legend of Zelda', invalidate Nintendo's patents - GIGAZINE



They also stated that they made the change as a 'preventative measure to ensure that we can continue to develop and distribute Pal World under any circumstances, regardless of the progress of the litigation.' Pocket Pair commented, 'We have decided that this is a necessary measure to make it clearer that Pal World is not infringing on any patents in order to continue developing and distributing Pal World.'

According to Pocket Pair, the modifications made to Pal World in response to the patent infringement lawsuit include 'removal of the function to throw pulse spheres to summon Pals' and 'gliding with glider Pals.'



The latter feature in particular was extremely popular, leading some PalWorld users to be critical of Nintendo and The Pokémon Company.



The following user has offered some pretty strong criticism of Nintendo, stating, 'Imagine going back to 1981. If Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness had trademarked vehicles, they wouldn't have been allowed to be used in other games.' and 'Nintendo is directly destroying innovation and any attempt at progress in the name of greed.'



In the sandbox game 'Ark: Survival Evolved,' in which you raise dinosaurs, you can fly through the air while riding dinosaurs, so some people questioned why this problem only exists in 'Palworld.'



Some users have complained to The Pokémon Company, saying, 'Instead of suing us, just give us a decent game.'



'The idea of flying or gliding with animals has been around for ages, from ' The Reluctant Dragon ' in 1941 to ' The Neverending Story ' in 1984. Stories about little kids or dogs flying on giant flying birds have been around for hundreds of years, so I don't see how you could patent gliding or flying with animals.'



Meanwhile, the overseas media outlets reporting on this news, which is legally difficult to judge as a 'patent infringement,' have only reported Pocket Pair's statement, and have not discussed the merits of Nintendo, The Pokémon Company, or Pocket Pair's claims. In the comments section of an article by the IT news site The Verge, many users criticized Nintendo for being tyrannical, while others pointed out that 'the patent is not necessarily related to the part about simply flying in the sky on an animal, and the legal issues are not obvious at first glance.'

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in Game, Posted by log1i_yk