Featured Image Credit: The Pokemon Company, PocketPair Inc.
Topics: Pokemon, Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, Palworld
Topics: Pokemon, Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, Palworld
We thought it would happen. We all postulated and got caught up in the storm of Pokémon versus Palworld when the latter game was released.
Everyone waited with bated breath for it all to kick off and yet Nintendo and The Pokémon Company remained silent, with many of us thinking the war ended before it even began.
Palworld recently announced its future updates including a brand-new area to explore
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Oh, how foolish we were. It seems Nintendo and The Pokémon Company were merely gathering evidence, powering up like Pikachu charging with electricity, getting ready to strike.
Last night, it was revealed that the two parties will be clashing after all, with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company announcing that they are seeking compensation from Pocket Pair.
This is based on supposed, and some would argue blatant, patent infringement.
It’s a good job Pocket Pair made millions from their game because if they want to go up against the Nintendo lawyers, they’re going to need every penny.
We all know how tenacious Nintendo is when it comes to their properties and Pokémon is one of the jewels in their crown.
In the joint statement from Nintendo and The Pokémon Company, they said, “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.”
But let’s take you back to January when Palworld first launched. It was an instant success, branded as Pokémon with guns by many. Others see it as a proper attempt at a Pokémon-style MMO.
A week after the game launched, over 2 million people were playing it on Steam and while that number has steadily decreased, the developers committed to a road map for introducing new Pals and areas to explore.
Waiting in the wings, however, were Nintendo’s lawyers, likely pulling together many examples of Pals similarities to Pokémon.
This has the opportunity to be a monumental case, even if it is somehow settled out of court. We’ll keep you updated with news as it happens.