Nintendo sues ‘Pokémon with guns’ studio for patent abuse

Takuro Mizobe, CEO of Pocketpair, at the company’s office. Photo / Shoko Takayasu/Bloomberg

Nintendo has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Tokyo-based Pocketpair, the maker of hit game Palworld, seeking an injunction and compensation for damages.

The case, brought together with affiliate Pokémon Co., was submitted to the Tokyo District Court this week. Nintendo said, without detailing the scale of relief sought.

Pocketpair responded by saying it was “unaware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing” and would investigate the infringement claims.

Palworld was an instant success upon its debut in January, raising the profile of its creator Pocketpair and earning the moniker “Pokémon with guns” among fans, who saw similarities between the fantastical monsters in the game and those in Nintendo’s famed franchise.

Patent protection in software typically covers elements of the user experience - rather than the look of characters - and Nintendo may have found gameplay mechanics it believes infringe on its rights.

“Nintendo filing this lawsuit for patent infringement, not copyright violation, means it has given up making the case that Palworld’s characters are similar to Pokémon’s,” Toyo Securities analyst Hideki Yasuda said.

Figures of Palworld characters at Pocketpair’s office in Tokyo. Photo / Shoko Takayasu/Bloomberg

“But it shows Nintendo has more ways to stop games it doesn’t like. The company owns a lot of patents related to basic game mechanics that are used in many titles available today.”

The lawsuit came as a surprise after Nintendo and Pokémon Co had remained largely silent on the issue for months, though Pokémon Co had warned that it had not approved any use of its IP for Palworld and would take action if necessary.

The game got full-fledged support from Microsoft in its initial distribution and Pocketpair also teamed up with Sony Group to sell related merchandise.

A representative of Sony Music Entertainment Inc, which set up the Pocketpair collaboration, said in a statement the company was not in a position to comment.

“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,” the company said.