Nintendo’s once again is showing it off, you know, once again protecting Pokemon. How’s that now? Well, this time they’re targeting a small indie development called Palworld by Pocketpair. Yes, this is about bringing cute collectible creatures called Pals into the fighting arena on a large open map. Heard of it already? Nintendo sure feels it does, and they are furious, but why exactly? Well, just so you know, the spat began with a lawsuit, and it’s still not going to stop Palworld completely but asks Pocketpair for a symbolic 10 million yen (roughly $65,000) to settle the matter out of court. It might not sound like a big deal for a company like Nintendo, but the implications would be quite huge for the entire industry as this could set a new standard for the use by big gaming giants of small developers in the future.
What Got Nintendo Fired Up?
You see, yes, Nintendo’s argument is quite simple, more so with Palworld considering that they seem to have borrowed more than a fair bit from Pokémon’s playbook. Like, they are especially peeved by three main features. First, the whole “aim and throw items at creatures to start a battle.” Second, the idea of catching creatures out in the wild instead of locking them into a specific battle setting, you know? Finally, it allows players to ride their own creatures across an open world and switch them like nothing. Well, to be honest, doesn’t that sound actually way too familiar? Yes, it really should feel that way.
However, keep in mind that PocketPair isn’t bowing to any such pressure. To them, the so-called “mechanics” were not entirely revolutionary or unique to Pokémon, many other games already used such mechanics. All in all, yes, to them, this sounded like an attempt by Nintendo to keep ideas under wraps that should already be in open access. They even went ahead and changed the game based on some issues people raised. This, for example, has changed the mechanics of summoning creatures with a ball to magically have them appear at your side. It’s pretty cool, isn’t it? But will that be enough to avoid Nintendo’s legal action? Unlikely.
Why Don’t PocketPair Won’t Back Down?
Sure enough, despite the ongoing lawsuit, PocketPair is not going into hiding. They’re kinda strong about it, like, they insist that Palworld is not a rip-off of Pokémon. They have made some changes to avoid the ire of Nintendo to further illegitimateize their claims, but they continue with updates and improvements at full speed. They actually can afford it, having already sold millions of copies of Palworld, so they have some money for lawyers and game development alike, that’s for sure.
It’s actually bold for such a small studio, but fans seem to dig the underdog mojo, you know? Like, Pocketpair isn’t just fighting for itself, paradoxically becoming a symbol for indie developers everywhere who want to free-range their ideas without the fear of lawsuits from the big dogs aka players in the scene.
What’s Really at Stake Here?
You see, Nintendo isn’t the one who’s just asking for $65,000. This case is way beyond that dollar amount. A win for Nintendo would kill the small number of smaller companies from wanting to even bother creating games that have even the remotest semblance to the big ones. So yes, conversely, if Pocketpair wins, then it might just scare those big companies like Nintendo away before taking on indie studios with such hits on broad patents, and that will be kinda a big win.
Sure enough, for Pocketpair, it is a survival lawsuit and they just want to win it so badly. They also have to keep Palworld going seamlessly and yet not cross another legal line. For Nintendo, it is protecting the golden goose and making an example of anyone who got too close for comfort.