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Palworld dev says it will fight Nintendo lawsuit ‘to ensure indies aren’t discouraged from pursuing ideas’
Palworld developer Pocketpair has responded to news that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have filed a patent lawsuit against it.
Nintendo and TPC filed the lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday, seeking an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages “on the grounds that Palworld… infringes multiple patent rights.”
Now, in its own statement published on Thursday, Pocketpair has said it believes it’s “truly unfortunate that we will be forced to allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development” due to the lawsuit.
“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,” it said.
Pocketpair’s full statement can be read below:
Regarding The Lawsuit
Yesterday, a lawsuit was filed against our company for patent infringement.
We have received notice of this lawsuit and will begin the appropriate legal proceedings and investigations into the claims of patent infringement.
At this moment, we are unaware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing upon, and we have not been notified of such details.
Pocketpair is a small indie game company based in Tokyo. Our goal as a company has always been to create fun games. We will continue to pursue this goal because we know that our games bring joy to millions of gamers around the world. Palworld was a surprise success this year, both for gamers and for us. We were blown away by the amazing response to the game and have been working hard to make it even better for our fans. We will continue improving Palworld and strive to create a game that our fans can be proud of.
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.
We apologize to our fans and supporters for any worry or discomfort that this news has caused.
As always, thank you for your continued support of Palworld and Pocketpair.
Released in January via Steam Early Access and Xbox Game Preview, the monster-catching survival game Palworld was an immediate hit, attracting 25 million players in just its first month, according to Pocketpair.
However, the game’s huge success ignited debate around perceived similarities between its character designs and those of the Pokémon games.
However, since the lawsuit filed this week is a patent suit – and not a copyright suit – it suggests Nintendo and The Pokémon Company’s complaint is likely focused on its gameplay inventions, rather than similarities between character designs.
As noted in its statement above, Pocketpair claims it’s “unaware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing upon” and that it hasn’t been notified.
Nintendo and The Pokémon Company said in a statement: “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.”
