Meme

This is the patent Palworld is likely being sued by Nintendo/Pokemon.


This is the patent Palworld is likely being sued by Nintendo/Pokemon.

26 Comments

  1. JillValentine69X

    Knowing Nintendo it would be something that stupid.

  2. RedMattis

    To be clear. This is NOT nintendo suing over copyright. It is a patent they are suing over. Most likely the one linked in this post.

    Whatever your opinion on Palworld or Pokemon might be, I think we can all agree that we don’t want game developers to start patenting their “unique” take on double jumping, health bar placement, and other insanity

    The post above links to a series of images from Nintendo’s patents (JP,7398425,B).

    They are basically patenting the idea of:

    * Throwing things at creatures to capture them.
    * Calling on allies to fight enemies or to interact with the environment

    As a gamer and someone who works in the AAA parts of the game industry I think this type of development is troubling, and we do not want precedent for successfully suing someone for something like this. It may well lead to studios trying to patent their “totally unique” take on a double jump, or their method of setting up a user interface for a product, and other things that can be harmful for anyone from indie to AAA.

    Nintendo is generally not known for their attempts at suing falling flat, so this is probably a genuine attempt to shut down making anything with ***game design*** elements similar to Pokemon.

  3. CryMoreFanboys

    Nintendo is a patent troll

    [patent troll, pejorative term for a company, that uses a portfolio of patents not to produce products but solely to collect licensing fees or settlements on patent infringement from other companies.](https://youtu.be/gf8Et6tD48Y?t=38)

  4. MonochromeObserver

    It’s the controller used in Let’s Go Eevee/Pikachu. But i can see them stretching the patent beyond the controller. They do describe UI elements after all.

  5. Spire_Citron

    Game mechanics shouldn’t be patented at all. The whole industry relies on borrowing ideas. There’s no game that doesn’t borrow from many, many others, and every idea was new once. If someone else can put an idea to better use, good. I want more, better games, not for a good idea to get restricted to the game that started it.

  6. SolaireSaysPraiseIt

    Someone posted the filing yesterday. You can see the things they’re suing over I thought?
    Unless I miss-understood?

    We don’t need to guess.

  7. Ugh, don’t suppose the gamers would organize a protest or something.

  8. After 8 months since public release, if all Nintendo has on Palworld after that long of legal research and planning is this generic of a patent and not even copyright, Palworld is sitting safe I’d say.
    Then again I feel like they wouldn’t wage a losing battle when it’s basically against Microsoft and Sony on Palworld’s side, not to mention the outlook of big corp punching down on a tiny indie dev team over a super generic gameplay concept that many think shouldn’t be patentable in the first place, idk.
    I’m hoping Pocketpair wins. More quality games on the market the merrier, for enjoyment and competition. Getting to monopolize gameplay mechanics is kind BS imo like the Nemesis system.

  9. iwishihadnobones

    I can’t imagine anything more boring than my job being having to write that patent.

  10. perfectlypoachedpen1

    So dead by daylight is infringing too. Especially the knight! You summon companions to fight for you! Or throw projectiles for use in capturing people.

  11. The pokemon patent uses a freaking T-Rex? Lol

    I really hope the idea that game mechanics can be patented in Japan gets thrown out. This would actually be really bad precedent for Japanese games if Nintendo wins.

  12. MattyBro1

    I feel it’s a bit presumptuous to create criticism threads about the topic based solely on what *may* be the patent they’re suing over. I have no doubt it will probably be something stupid, but lets at least wait until we know what it is rather than just speculating.

  13. Raven_Ashareth

    I don’t know who currently owns the IP for the original Megami Tensei but they could do the funniest thing ever

  14. DivinoLife

    Patent on what?

    Throwing a ball to capture an animal? Lol, thats what i get from this images.

    Well, how about our ancestors sue nintendo then? Because they were throwing nets to catch animals before an imaginary pokeball was ever invented:))))

  15. raihidara

    If Nintendo patented something this simple, I worry about Astro Bot’s future given most of its ideas are peppered throughout the Mario franchise

  16. Helldiver-xzoen

    This seems pretty broad. Can you get a patent on “projectiles launched from a handheld device, in a first person perspective, that interact with the environment” too? And shut down the FPS genre?

  17. CorruptedFlame

    I fucking hate nintendo so much. Not bought a pokemon game in years, don’t plan to ever buy ANYTHING related to them at all ever again. Just a blight on the industry at this point.

  18. StillHere179

    Shin Megami Tensei should sue the fuck out of the Pokemon company because they just copied their idea.

  19. Exonicreddit

    I’m not convinced, this clearly ties the gameplay to actions in real life, it looks to be a patent for the aiming with the joycons, and not the act of putting things in balls thrown by a player itself. Curious how this all goes though, there are clear similarities but I’m not sure how enforceable Nintendo will find this patent in this case.

  20. JohnnyJayce

    Is this one patent or does it include multiple? Because Nintendo said “multiple” and I have no idea what other patents there might be for them to sued for.

  21. smellyourdick

    The gaming development ecosystem thrives on adapting and improving previous works and ideas.

    Imagine how stupid the gaming market would look right now if Wolfenstein 3D patented first person shooting mechanics and kept renewing it over years?

  22. YasssQweenWerk

    I’m going to patent health globes and sue Blizzard for easy money. Anyway… Capitalism is so fucked up

  23. Nope, that patent you showed is from the game “Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!” in which can buy a pokeball that functions as a controller to capture pokemons in the game.

    It might be true that they patent the game mechanic of capturing pokemon but what you showed here is definitely not that patent.

  24. Important_Sock7553

    They patented it in May this year, what a stupid fucking lawsuit.

    Nintendo actually did this with a mobile game company that came out just before the now dead Dragalia Lost and were unsuccessful in having the patent enforced.

  25. Panahaden

    If Nintendo worked that hard to make better Pokemon games, we’d be blessed.

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