Nintendo & Pokémon Officially File Lawsuit Against Palworld Devs

Eight months after entering early access, Palworld is finally at the center of a copyright lawsuit, and as expected the lawsuit comes from The Pokémon Company.

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are suing Pocketpair, the Japanese developer who produced Palworld for infringement of patent rights. The companies are seeking damages alongside an injunction against infringement, claiming that Palworld infringed on multiple of its patents. 

The lawsuit was filed in Tokyo District Court on Sept. 18, 2024, and announced in a press release on the Nintendo website the following day. While it is a surprise that the companies chose to officially file a lawsuit, it should have been expected given that The Pokémon Company has been investigating Palworld since the game’s release exploded in popularity back in January.

Palworld debuted a fresh take on the creature-capturing genre taking huge inspiration from Pokémon but also other open-world crafting games like ARK. The game instantly became a hit selling tens of millions of copies, and shooting up the Steam charts in its first week. Palworld was also released for free through Xbox Game Pass alongside its PC version. The game is still in early access.

Similarities between the Pals in Palworld and Pokémon were immediately clear, in fact, the game was referred to often online as Pokémon with guns. Going further some players even compared in-game models between Palworld and Pokémon Sword and Shield eventually finding what appears to be close similarities.

At this stage exact details regarding the lawsuit are scarce, so we don’t know for certain what evidence The Pokémon Company will be using to argue their case of trademark infringement. This new lawsuit comes off the heels of a court victory where The Pokémon Company successfully sued the markers of Pocket Monster Reissue for a reported amount of $15 million.

Palworld devs Pocketpair have not yet released an official statement regarding the lawsuit. As of Sept. 17, Palworld is still receiving regular updates.