With the legal bout between Palworld developers Pocketpair and Nintendo underway, many are beginning to take a side, and top streamer Asmongold has made his decision—he wants to see Nintendo lose.
During a stream this week, Asmongold went over the finer details of Nintendo’s lawsuit against Pocketpair with the former seeking an injunction and “compensation for damages” brought about by Palworld and its supposed infringement of “multiple patent rights.” He zeroed in on the patents surrounding monster capture in games that Nintendo filed, suggesting these patents were created specifically to sue Palworld. Asmongold believes this strategy comes off as unfair at best, and at worst, deliberately underhanded.
Asmongold slammed Nintendo, saying that if it wins the case, “more game mechanics will become patented,” and “less innovation will be allowed to occur.” He centered his frustration around the idea that businesses like Nintendo are ruining gaming because they’re not just trying to claim ownership over their systems, they want to own concepts. With the patents at hand, it’s easy to understand these concerns.
Automaton’s translation and breakdown of an article by Japanese patent attorney Kiyoshi Kurihara suggested these recent patents will be used to show Poketpair’s patent infringement. The diagram and explanation for the patent and its related documents described the process of using an “aiming direction” in a “virtual space” and launching an object to affect a “field character.” As Asmongold pointed out in his stream, that could be just about anything—like tossing a grenade at an enemy.
Automaton’s explanation cited “aiming a capture item at a character placed on the field,” and then “releasing the capture item in a direction determined by player input.” Although this was more specific, it may not change how everything came off to Asmongold and his viewers. The design and ensuing explanation for the patent read as obtusely general, and the patent itself seemed especially underhanded.
Part of why Asmongold believes it feels like Nintendo is bullying Pocketpair is because these documents seem to have been prompted by Palworld’s arrival. Palworld was first announced on June 5, 2021; Nintendo first filed its parent patent for these mechanics in December of that year. Following this process, the patent Asmongold read from was filed on May 2, 2024—months after Palworld was released—and the latest application was for Patent No. 7545191, filed on July 30, 2024.
Based on the given timeline, It’s easy to conclude that this case played out exactly how it appears: Nintendo saw Pocketpair’s success and decided to sue to get rid of the threat that Palworld poses to Pokemon. Commenters pointed out that “any judge with half a brain would tell Nintendo to f*** off,” but it may not be so simple. Other people suggest that patent law works based on who filed first. Whether another game predates the legal filing may be irrelevant.
So far, it’s unclear who will win this court battle, but plenty of people are rooting for Pocketpair so that other games can have a fighting chance.
