Nintendo pounds ‘Palworld’ creators over patent infringement

The video game dubbed “Pokemon with guns” is being sued by games giant Nintendo over patent infringement.

‘Palworld,’ a game released and developed by Pocketpair, was first unveiled to the public in 2021. The trailer caught the attention of many Pokemon fans and was given the name “Pokemon with guns.”

The game was released at the beginning of this year, prompting Nintendo and The Pokemon Company to investigate a potential patent infringement in January.

Now, both Nintendo and its partner, The Pokemon Company, have announced that they’ve filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court against Pocketpair.

The lawsuit seeks compensation for damages relating to multiple patent infringements that Pocketpair has supposedly committed.

“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,” Nintendo said in a statement.

Palworld saw a rise in success during its initial release, as millions of players flocked to play the latest game. With that feat came a large revenue stream.

According to Simon Carless, the founder of GameDiscoverCo and former game developer, Palworld has an approximate revenue of almost $500 million.

On its website, Palworld says that the latest creature-collecting game “aims to rival the likes of Pokemon” with its twist on classic survival games.

Palworld is described as a survival, crafting, open-world monster collector, third-person shooter game, which (Pocketpair said themselves) “sounds like a bit much.”