The Pokemon successor title that Nintendo told you not to worry about, Palworld, has certainly had something of a year- hasn't it? Exploding onto the scene with a frankly gross amount of initial success right from the moment go, picked up by Gamepass, distributed to the millions on PC, the title became a stable of the scene in no time flat establishing just how desperately people are willing to accept anything with that Pokemon DNA stretched over a more ambitious body. That being said, it really takes some balls to rub your shoes on Nintendo's feet and not expect them to take a bazooka to your offices- thus I stood with many others in absolute shock when months of silence pervaded the conversation about inter-company discourse. Experts clucked their tongues, columnists prepared their obituaries and nothing happened. Until now. Surprise Nintendo Lawsuit. Boom.
Pocketpair confirmed themselves that the big N took a shot right at their offices for the crime that everyone expected six months ago. Infringement. Which just makes sense, doesn't it? I mean say all you will about Palworld and how fundamentally it takes the idea of Pokemon and moves it in many more interesting directions than the franchise itself was ever going to stretch- but from a design standpoint those two were really drinking from the same font. Palworld literally borrowed the exact same design philosophy as Pokemon, with colour combinations and animal switch-ups, emulated the exact same cutesy art style and, allegedly, even scribbled over some of those old Pokemon designs for good measure. The resemblance is uncanny is some examples and others look like actual mash-up 'what if' designs you see uploaded to Reddit ever other day. It makes total sense why Nintendo would go after them for that there copyright infringment.
Hmm? Excuse me, I'm hearing that they weren't aimed at for Copyright Infringement? That doesn't make any sense though- what else would there be to... Patent Infringement? As in, the Patent for Pokemon? The legal filed design documents? They're claiming an infringement over there? That is... I'm not going to lie- a really smart way to blindside everyone. I bet that Pocketpair had loaded up laywers on retainers that were drafting up copyright rebuttal speeches every other week and bouncing them off each other just to stay mean with it. But kick down the front door and slam a 'Patent' suite on the desk and suddenly everyone is given a little pause. Cages are rattled. Oh, and the foundation of art itself creeks against the abyss whilst another careless gust of litigious wind batters it- but who cares about that? Nintendo sure don't!
Nintendo can't be alleging that Pocketpair straight up kidnapped one of their OG technicians and squeezed the secret to a winning Pokemon formula across hours of extreme torture methods, nor do I think they are accusing the Palworld devs of infiltrating the heavily guarded Nintendo vaults- breeching the six-foot steel walls and making off with the original design documents to flog on the Pika-market- so we can only assume this is a pointed finger at the accusation of 'copying'. Nintendo must, by all logical deduction, be looking at Palworld and finding something in it's design and systems so egregiously lifted from the legally unique and distinct Pokemon formula that it constitutes immediate cease and desisting. So let's put on our amateur attorney hats and see if we can't drum up a case for Nintendo- do the exact kind of garbage picking their legal team have been up to over the past half year...
So lacking the insight into the workings of either Palworld or traditional Pokemon we can only really opine on the visible gameplay mechanics and in that comparison Palworld is actually pretty distinct. The game isn't turn-based, does not set itself in a similar style of explorable world with themed routes and small gym villages- utilises it's mons for a very basic battle system which shudders in the face of Pokemon's half-involved complexity. Palworld's gameplay loop is built around survival systems, crafting and efficiency management- none of which exist in the Pokemon pantheon. All we can really draw in connection to one another would be the very concept of catching monsters and pitting them to battle- which to be fair, does invoke the spirit of Pokemon at a glance- but should it exclusively?
What if these were soldiers on the battlefield being captured and put to work against the enemy? Like for 'Shadows of Mordor'? That's right, Shadows of Mordor borrowed that basic philosophy with a more randomised approach so you were less filling up a Pokedex and more browsing for the coolest looking Orcs to recruit into your vanguard. Maybe the idea of 'filling up a list of specifically designed creatures for a competitive battle system' is important, despite Palworld lacking that competitive battle system. Well then, one might merely invoke the name of Shin Megami Tensei, no? Persona, Soul Hackers, SMT- that's the bread and butter of all of them! And guess what, Nintendo- the first SMT game debuted in 1992... Pokemon Yellow came out in 1996... Maybe those are the kinds of rocks you don't want to turn over, huh.
Of course, we have no idea what the actual pain points are and currently neither do Pocketpair who are apparently having to launch a legal investigation into themselves to figure out what the heck Nintendo is even on about. Although N isn't taking this lightly! Apparently they've identified several patents being infringed upon- which makes this sound like a damn-near copy'n'paste situation if you weren't at all aware of the actual products involved and how materially distinct they actually are. For optics sake I can only assume Nintendo will try their hardest to keep this close to the chest but that cat has long since fled the burlap, friend- we're all fascinated to find out what apparent chink in the armour Palworld didn't notice until now and I pray we get follow-ups from the two journalists who actually still exist in this medium.
In the grand scheme, however, can I just say that this sucks. Patents towards modes of design, concepts of gameplay, are like hot knives stabbed into the back of creativity itself. All art is iterative, most great art is whole-sale Frankenstein-ed together out of lesser works. The greatest games of our age all owe vast pedigrees to gameplay systems, development methods and concept figured out and refined before them- this year's presumptive Game of the Year Black Myth Wukong probably have Hidetaka Miyazaki's every odd mannerism down for how closely they've imitated his work and style. When aspects of design like this enter litigation, or Warner Bros try and lock down the 'Nemesis System' from their games- everyone loses. And I'd think that Nintendo would know that well for how much their own games have proven influential- but I guess desperation makes enemies out of everyone- huh?
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