“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.”
Pocketpair Inc., the creator of the viral game Palworld, has issued a statement regarding the patent infringement lawsuit filed by Nintendo in the Tokyo District Court. Pocketpair said it is "unaware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing upon" and claims to not have been notified of such details.
Nintendo announced on Sept. 18 that it was suing the Palworld developer Pocketpair for infringing "multiple patent rights" that belong to Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. Although Palworld went on to sell millions of copies, the comparison with Pokémon existed from the very beginning, and fans even dubbed the game "Pokémon with guns."
Pocketpair's full statement about the lawsuit
"Yesterday, a lawsuit was filed against our company for patent infringement.
We have received notice of this lawsuit and will begin the appropriate legal proceedings and investigations into the claims of patent infringement.
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.
Pocketpair is a small indie game company based in Tokyo. Our goal as a company has always been to create fun games. We will continue to pursue this goal because we know that our games bring joy to millions of gamers around the world. Palworld was a surprise success this year, both for gamers and for us. We were blown away by the amazing response to the game and have been working hard to make it even better for our fans. We will continue improving Palworld and strive to create a game that our fans can be proud of.
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 apologize to our fans and supporters for any worry or discomfort that this news has caused.
As always, thank you for your continued support of Palworld and Pocketpair."
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What are the next steps for Pocketpair and Nintendo?
Now that Pocketpair has been officially notified, it will have to gather its lawyers and prepare a defense against Nintendo and The Pokémon Company's claims.
As soon as Nintendo's statement was out, Palworld fans worried about the game potentially shutting down as a result of the lawsuit. However, we'll have to wait and see what happens as everything is just speculation at this point.
That's all for now. Stay tuned to esports.gg for more gaming news and updates.
