In case you missed it, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company announced on September 18 that they to file a lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair. After months of controversy surrounding the game popularly known as “Pokémon with guns” and a statement made in January After the Pokémon Company announced it was planning to “investigate” the game, it is finally taking legal action. Just like it did back then Palworld first came with its near-identical monsters, recontextualized with survival mechanics, an edgier tone, and, yes, firearms, the internet is divided on the issue.
Palworld has been controversial since its launch, and that division only grew worse when the monster-taming game launched into early access on January 19. You had Pokémon diehards furious that Pocketpair had so shamelessly stolen monster designs from the pocket monsters fans had known and loved for decades. On the other hand, you were disillusioned Pokémon fans who were so dissatisfied with developer Game Freak’s recent output of RPGs that Palworld felt like a breath of fresh air. Whether you were watching Palworld As a cynical grab for controversy or a reference point for Game Freak to look to, the game caught on with an audience and garnered 25 million players in the first month.
But now all that controversy and disagreement has brought us here, with The Pokémon Company and Nintendo taking Pocketpair to court. The companies’ joint announcement claims this is on patent infringement grounds, and Pocketpair says it’s unaware of which patents it’s allegedly infringed. But even with all the uncertainty, the internet is responding.
Usually when we post here on Internet Reacts, Kotaku There are many jokes to be made, and this situation has a few, such as this excellent article by Hard disk about hiring Pocketpair identical lawyers with guns. But the Pocketpair situation comes with a lot of baggage. Nintendo has historically been trigger-happy lawyersto the point that even the fans who love the games often caught in the crossfire just to honor their favorites. So while some believe Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have a case, others see it as yet another example of the Switch manufacturer throwing its weight around to get the ball rolling.
There is also a growing fear that this could set a bad precedent for other monster taming games if the lawsuit isn’t even focused on the monster designs, but instead focuses on patented mechanics such as catching bugs with thrown objectsThe controversy surrounding Palworld largely came from the monster designs and how some models looked nearly identical to existing Pokémon, but are included as proprietary mechanics in the mix, developers who make games where you have to tame monsters may need to be extra careful when designing their gameplay to avoid the wrath of Nintendo.
What is also remarkable is that Pokémon Counterfeits and rip-offs are often even more blatant than Palworld but usually don’t result in a much-discussed lawsuit. Anyone whose social media algorithm knows they like Pokémon has undoubtedly seen advertisements like this for mobile games with characters that are literally just Pokémon. No custom designs, no name changes, just straight up pocket monsters. A common sentiment is that PalworldThe success of ‘s is the only thing that matters to The Pokémon Company, which could mean the company felt threatened by Palworld somehow.
Despite the frightening implications, there are others are less sympathetic Unpleasant Palworld considering how it clearly flew too close to the sun with monster designs that were clearly designed to resemble those of Nintendo’s juggernaut. Even with the threat of a lawsuit hanging over their heads, Pocketpair formed Palworld Entertainment to further expand the franchise, which some theorize could have played a role in The Pokémon Company’s decision to ultimately file a lawsuit.
Ultimately, for many fans, this is just a spectator sport. Some people hate Palworld as a video game and would love to see it disappear into the ether. Others want to take a step back from The Pokémon Company and Nintendo and see them lose this lawsuitWhether you love someone or hate them Palworld or the most financially lucrative franchise on the planet, this is far more delicate and nuanced than your average online video game feud. That won’t stop the armchair lawyers from showing up, but at least they’ll come up with some gallows humor.
