Nintendo is suing rival company behind game dubbed 'Pokémon with guns'

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are suing the makers of Palword, the viral “Pokémon with guns” video game.

At the start of 2024, Palworld took the gaming world by storm, with its weapon-toting characters quickly drawing comparisons to those in the iconic Japanse franchise Pokémon, leading to the nickname “Pokémon with guns”.

The game was developed by the company Pocketpair, Inc. and sold more than five million copies in three days. A statement from The Pokémon Company at the time said it intended to “investigate and take appropriate measures” against “acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon”.

Now, Nintendo and its partner The Pokémon Company have followed through, launching legal action against Pocketpair Inc over Palworld’s alleged patent infringement.

A statement shared on Ninentdo’s website on September 19 explained both Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have filed a “patent infringement lawsuit” against Pocketpair, Inc.

“This lawsuit seeks an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds that Palworld, a game developed and released by the Defendant, infringes multiple patent rights,” the statement said.

“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.”

Within a month of its release on January 19, Palworld had over 25 million players. Like Pokémon, one of the game’s central goals is for players to collect creatures that possess unique powers.

Pocketpair has responded to the lawsuit on X / Twitter.

"We have received notice of this lawsuit and will begin the appropriate legal proceedings and investigations into the claims of patent infringement," a statement said.

"At this moment, we are unaware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing upon, and we have not been notified of such details.

"It is truly unfortunate that we will be forced to allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development due to this lawsuit. However, we will do our utmost for our fans, and to ensure that indie game developers are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas.

"We apologise to our fans and supporters for any worry or discomfort that this news has caused."

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