from the hypocrites dept
We’ve talked a bunch about the lawsuit drama between Nintendo and the Pokémon Co. against PocketPair, the makers of the hit game Palworld. The short version goes something like this. Palworld is clearly inspired by the Pokémon world and games, but does not directly copy anything from those properties. Nintendo in particular seems very annoyed by this game even existing, but, again, no actual direct copying is occurring here. Instead, Nintendo has sued PocketPair for patent infringement over patents it holds for Pokémon video game mechanics that are, to put it mildly, quite generic and for which prior art/use already exists. That lawsuit is still ongoing, but PocketPair proactively removed several supposedly offending features from Palworld to protect itself as much as possible.
If you take anything away from all of that, it should be that Nintendo cares deeply about its IP and protecting its rights in any way imaginable. At least for itself, that is, because as this lawsuit is still active Nintendo is also offering up a clear Palworld clone on its Switch 2 eShop.
Published by BoggySoftware, Palland has been available since July 31 and is available to buy for £9.99. A handful of images from the game show Pokemon-inspired monsters being shot at with a gun. “I watched a few minutes of gameplay and holy shit it looks so bad,” one fan wrote on Reddit. “This is so absurdly bad looking I am not surprised they let it onto the Switch. They don’t have to worry about anyone actually wanting to play it,” added another.
Dataminers have also found evidence that Palland developers were calling the game “Palworld” during development. “I really fucking hope this gets thrown in Nintendo’s face during court,” said one fan.
Now, let’s stipulate a couple of things. First, Techdirt has historically taken the position on video game clones that is something like: We totally understand why this annoys the original creator, but if your game is first and good and the “clone” doesn’t do a bunch of direct copying, we don’t really think it’s a threat to the original creator making money. Second, PocketPair specifically has come right out and has said that it has zero problem with others trying to clone its game.
But PocketPair also obviously doesn’t see any issue with Palworld being inspired by Pokémon and Nintendo just as obviously disagrees. That’s how moral stances work. If Nintendo has a problem with PocketPair’s bankshot of inspiration over properties it owns, it should have just as big a problem with selling more clear clones of others’ games. It appears it does not have that problem, however, and is happy to collect money for a Palworld clone even as it sues the company behind the game for patent infringement.
It’s hypocrisy of a kind, at the very least. Sadly, that isn’t terribly surprising for Nintendo.
Filed Under: competition, palland, palworld, patents, pokemon, switch 2
Companies: boggysoftware, nintendo, pokcetpair
