Nintendo sues ‘Pokémon with guns’ game ‘Palworld’

Today in news that everyone saw coming, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are suing the “Pokémon with guns” game. Palworld. In rare cases, the offense may have nothing to do with the designs of the creatures.

Palworld made headlines when it launched into early access this January, with many describing the open-world survival game as “Pokémon with guns.” This comparison was inspired by PalworldThe titular Pals are, apparently, Pokémon-like creatures that players can battle, capture with Pokéball-like “Pal Spheres,” and equip them with guns. The Pokémon Company stated its intention to investigate and “address any actions that violate intellectual property rights” at the time, though not specifically. Palworld or its developer and publisher Pocketpair by name.

Now the company has directly called out Pocketpair, joining Nintendo in filing a patent infringement lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday.

“This case seeks an order for violation of the law and compensation for damages on the grounds that Palworldgame created and released by the Defendant, infringes on multiple copyrights,” Nintendo wrote in a brief press release.

It’s unclear exactly which patents Nintendo and The Pokémon Company accuse Pocketpair of infringing. Many players have noticed a striking similarity between them The Pokémon again Palworldcreature designs, and other 3D models even directly compared the two games’ character models and speculated that they were too similar to be a coincidence. Pocketpair has always denied all allegations of theft.

However, the fact that Nintendo is bringing Pocketpair to court for copyright infringement rather than copyright issues suggests that copyright issues The Pokémon again PalworldGameplay may be considered instead. While copyright covers creative design elements such as Pikachu’s appearance, patents apply to technological innovations such as game mechanics.

It’s unlikely that Nintendo will argue that they’re the only ones allowed to capture fictional creatures and fight, though. While The Pokémon The genre that captures monsters became popular in the West, and it is not far from the first game to use such machines. The CEO of Pocketpair, Takuro Mizobe, has said Palworld he found inspiration Dragon Questa series of Japanese games with mechanics that capture giant monsters before The Pokémon for several years. The introduction of the recruitment of creatures to Dragon Quest V preceded by Atlus’ Shin Megami Tensei series.

“Nintendo will continue to take the necessary steps against any infringement of its intellectual property rights including the Nintendo product itself, to protect the intellectual properties it has worked so hard to create over the years,” Nintendo said.

Mashable has reached out to Nintendo, The Pokémon Company, and Pocketpair for comment.

Nintendo is a notorious company, with a long history of taking action against people by building a fan base, hosting console characters, and even streaming their games. In 2017 the company filed a lawsuit against Tokyo-based go-kart business MariCar, successfully claiming that it infringed Nintendo’s copyright by renting clothing. Mario Kart letters to customers.

MariCar has been rebranded as Street Kart, and features a bold statement on its website that “it is by no means a Nintendo brand, [or] the game Mario Kart,” and “[does] not offering clothing rentals Mario Series.”

Many of these non-Nintendo-sanctioned activities seem harmless, or show affection for the company’s characters. Considering Nintendo’s reputation for kid-friendly entertainment, it’s no surprise that the multi-billion dollar company has no qualms about anything that might taint it, whether that’s go-kart crashes or guns.