Many expected it: Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are suing PocketPlayer, the developer of the successful game “PalWorld”. In a press release, Nintendo writes that the legal proceedings involve multiple patent violations. The suit was filed in a Tokyo court on September 18.
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Nintendo is seeking an injunction and damages, the statement continues. “Nintendo will continue to take action against any infringement of its intellectual property rights, including the Nintendo brand, to protect the intellectual property it has worked hard to develop over the years.”
“Palworld” is a survival video game released earlier this year with pocket monsters that are reminiscent of Nintendo’s classic “Pokemon” pocket monsters both conceptually and in their individual designs. Shortly after launch, several montages aired on Xwhich aims to show the similarities between the creatures of “Palworld” and Pokémon.
2 million players at the same time
The enormous success of “Palworld” also contributed to the buzz. At its peak, the survival game was played by more than 2 million players simultaneously, making it one of the biggest hype games of the year. The excitement around “Palworld” has now subsided somewhat. A very healthy 30,000 people still play the title on Steam at the same time every day. There are also console versions of “Palworld”, which is also part of Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass subscription.
It was predictable that Nintendo would take legal action against “PalWorld.” Faced with many questions about “PalWorld” and its success, Nintendo’s The Pokemon Company announced in January that it was investigating the game. “We intend to investigate and take appropriate action against any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to Pokemon,” the company wrote on PalWorld at the time.
So far, PocketPlayer has not commented on Nintendo’s lawsuit.
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