In This Story
If you missed it, on September 18, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company announced they are filing a lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair. After months of controversy surrounding the game colloquially known as “Pokémon with guns” and a statement made back in January by the Pokémon Company indicating that it intended to “investigate” the game, it’ss finally taking legal action. Much like when Palworld first came out with its near-identical monsters recontextualized with survival mechanics, an edgier tone, and, yes, firearms, the internet is divided on the matter.
Palworld has been contentious since before it launched, and that division only got worse when the monster-taming game launched in early access on January 19. You had Pokémon diehards furious that Pocketpair had so blatantly ripped off monster designs from the pocket monsters fans had known and loved for decades. On the other side, you had disillusioned Pokémon fans who had become so dissatisfied by developer Game Freak’s recent output of RPGs that Palworld felt like a breath of fresh air. Whether you viewed Palworld as a cynical grab at controversy or a reference point for Game Freak to look to, the game caught on with an audience, amassing 25 million players in its first month.
But now, all that controversy and dissent has brought us here, with The Pokémon Company and Nintendo dragging Pocketpair into a courtroom. The companies’ joint announcement claims this is on the grounds of patent infringement, and Pocketpair says it is unaware of what patents it has allegedly violated. But even with all that uncertainty, the internet reacts.
Usually when we do an Internet Reacts post here at Kotaku there are a lot of jokes to be had, and this situation has its fair share, such as this excellent article by Hard Drive about Pocketpair hiring identical lawyers with guns. But the Pocketpair situation has a lot of baggage surrounding it. Nintendo has historically been trigger-happy with its lawyers, to the point where even the fans who love its games are often caught in the crossfire just for paying tribute to their favorites. So while some believe Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have a case, others view it as just another example of the Switch manufacturer throwing its weight around to punch down.
There’s also a growing fear that this could set a bad precedent for other monster-tamer games if the lawsuit doesn’t even target the monster designs but instead focuses on patented mechanics such as capturing critters with thrown items. The controversy around Palworld largely stemmed from its monster designs and how some models seemed nearly identical to existing Pokémon, but if patented mechanics are in the mix, developers who create monster-taming games may need to be extra careful about designing their gameplay in such a way as to avoid Nintendo’s wrath.
What’s also notable is that Pokémon knock-offs and rip-offs have often been even more blatant than Palworld but don’t usually result in a highly publicized lawsuit. Anyone whose social media algorithm knows they like Pokémon has undoubtedly seen ads like this one for mobile games featuring characters who are literally just Pokémon. No altered designs, no name changes, just straight-up pocket monsters. A common sentiment is that Palworld’s success is all that matters to The Pokémon Company, which might signal that the corporation felt threatened by Palworld in some way.
Despite the frightening implications, others are less sympathetic to Palworld given how it was clearly flying too close to the sun with monster designs that were obviously designed to resemble those of Nintendo’s juggernaut. Even with the threat of a lawsuit hanging over them, Pocketpair formed Palworld Entertainment to expand the franchise further, which some theorize might have played a part in The Pokémon Company finally moving forward with a lawsuit.
Ultimately, for a lot of fans, this is just a spectator sport. Some folks hate Palworld as a video game and would love to see it tossed into the ether. Others want to knock The Pokémon Company and Nintendo down a peg and see them lose this lawsuit. Whether you love or hate Palworld or want to protect the most financially lucrative franchise on the planet, this is far more delicate and nuanced than your average online video game spat. That won’t stop the armchair lawyerings from sprouting up, but at least they also come with some funny gallows humor.
