Nintendo has announced it is suing Pocketpair, developer of hit Pokémon-style game Palworld, over the alleged infringement of “multiple patent rights.”
In a brief public statement posted to Nintendo’s website in the early hours of this morning, the company confirmed it had filed a patent infringement lawsuit in a Tokyo court yesterday, 18th September.
Nintendo states it is now seeking “an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds that Palworld, a game developed and released by the Defendant, infringes multiple patent rights.”
Palworld has constantly been compared to Pokémon since the project was first announced, and has often been referred to as “Pokémon with guns”. The monster collecting and battling game has even come under fire from Pokémon’s own fans, who have said that many of Palworld’s creature designs are similar.
Originally released in January this year for PC and Xbox, Palworld proved to be a hit – particularly on Xbox Game Pass. In its first month of release, Palworld gave Xbox its “biggest month ever on console” in terms of play time, with 10 million players giving it a go on console, and a further 15 million people joining in via Steam.
“Nintendo will continue to take necessary actions against any infringement of its intellectual property rights including the Nintendo brand itself,” the company’s statement concludes, “to protect the intellectual properties it has worked hard to establish over the years.”
More to follow.
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