Gaming
Nintendo on the Move: Does the Lawsuit Against Pocket Pair, Inc. Set a Dangerous Precedent?
As of last week, it appears that Nintendo finally sent its army of ninjas after Pocket Pair, Inc. on the grounds of patent infringement. For those of you who may not remember, the indie title ‘Palworld’ was released in January of this year.
Upon the game’s launch, the internet was set on fire with accusations of copycat designs and stolen gameplay mechanics. These accusations, which mostly came from the mouths of Nintendo loyalists and diehard Pokémon fans, were pretty hard to ignore. After all, there were way too many similarities to shoo off as mere coincidences.
However, Takuro Mizobe, the CEO of Pocket Pair, made several statements indicating that he had no intention of infringing on Nintendo’s IP. He even went as far as to praise the Pokémon series as the leader of the monster-hunting genre. Strangely enough, though, after receiving what I can only assume to be thousands of fan tweets, emails, and private messages, Nintendo remained fairly quiet on the matter.
In fact, the only comment made by the corporation was that it was looking into the situation. After that, it was complete radio silence. Up until now, everyone assumed that Nintendo had dropped the matter altogether. Palworld was flourishing, it was retaining a faithful player base, and new players continued to bring in more money. Unfortunately for Palworld, it looks like these past few months of success have given Nintendo the ammo it needs to conclude its stealthy investigation.
That said, while this lawsuit is damaging for Pocket Pair, it could also spell trouble for the gaming industry as a whole, depending on the outcome.
What Makes This Case Bigger Than Pocket Pair?
A lot of people might assume that Nintendo is suing Pocket Pair due to the likeness of Pals when compared to Pokémon, but that’s not entirely true. Even though the design similarities may have prompted the investigation initially, it appears that the lawsuit’s main focus is targeting Palworld’s gameplay mechanics. At first glance, this seems like a regular case of one game developer suing another for things that happen in the corporate world all the time. However, if you look at the specifics of this lawsuit, you’ll start to notice that there’s a disturbingly dystopian element to it.
On July 30 of this year, Nintendo filed an application for Patent No. 7545191, which was approved on September 4. This patent, which is an offshoot of a prior patent approved in 2021, basically gives Nintendo the rights to creature-capturing mechanics with spherical objects. If that sounds ambiguous to you, that’s because it’s supposed to be. The patent is worded in a way that would make it incredibly difficult for any Pokémon-like title to survive without infringing on Nintendo in some way. What’s more, there were also a few other provisional patents that were approved around the same time, highlighting monster-riding mechanics.
With the approval of these patents, Nintendo has effectively put an entire genre of gaming on notice. It won’t just stop at Pocket Pair. Any developer that even thinks about creating a monster-hunter style game is now going to have to contend with Nintendo’s legal team, at least in Japan.
With that in mind, you may be thinking, “Well, Japanese patent laws only apply to Japan, so what’s the big deal?” Even though that’s correct, think about AAA and indie gaming studios globally. If one developer sees that Nintendo can get away with claiming the rights to regular gameplay mechanics, what’s to stop others from doing the same? Next, you’ll see Activision trying to claim the rights to shooter-style mechanics or Rockstar Games filing lawsuits for carjacking features. It’s a slippery slope.
To make matters worse, if other gaming companies do decide to follow Nintendo’s lead, indie studios will definitely be the first to fall. In a worst case scenario, we could see the gaming industry left with nothing but AAA developers.
Is This a Legitimate Case or Competitive Fear?
As much as we might like to rag on AAA gaming studios, I have to admit that this is a legitimate lawsuit. In that same breath, I also think that Nintendo absolutely despises the possibility of losing the top monster-hunter spot. With the release of the most recent titles in the series, Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, fans have begun to express their displeasure with the games’ stagnant nature.
On the other hand, what Palworld did was take a pre-existing concept and breathe new life into it. However, I think what stung Nintendo the most was that Palworld not only piqued the curiosity of faithful Pokémon fans, but also sparked a conversation about what makes the series boring. I can imagine that having a formula, which has worked flawlessly for 28 years, suddenly be put into question by an indie studio would cause some friction.
Unfortunately for Nintendo, that unwillingness to change is exactly what leads to games like Palworld being made in the first place. Nevertheless, I don’t see Palworld surviving this fight, nor do I see Pocket Pair winning against a multi-billion dollar corporation. Although Pocket Pair plans to fight the lawsuit, it doesn’t take an analyst to see that the odds are stacked against it. As low-down as it is, Nintendo owns the patents, in addition to the finances to drain Pocket Pair of its own resources. Moreover, Nintendo wouldn’t have launched this case without the assurance of victory, which is why they strategically waited until the patents were approved.
Conclusion
Given this latest stunt by Nintendo, I’m curious to see what kind of ripple effects it’ll have throughout the gaming industry. I would hope that it doesn’t encourage other developers to try their hands at gatekeeping, but who knows? Corporations become more brazen with their displays of power daily, and if the legal system allows it, then why not test their luck? But, until this case is settled, I’ll be rooting for Pocket Pair regardless, and I would encourage others in the gaming community to do the same.
Everything considered, how do you all feel about this lawsuit? Do you think that Nintendo has overstepped this time? Do you think it should be lawful to patent gameplay mechanics? If Pocket Pair loses this case, do you believe that other indie studios will encounter similar issues in the future?
If you‘d like to keep the conversation going, comment on this article and click that ‘Follow’ button! Also, if you enjoy any of my content related to Gaming, Tech, the DCU, or Entertainment, consider showing me some support over at Ko-Fi!
