Nintendo's Palworld Lawsuit Gets New Update As Pocketpair Fights Back

The Nintendo and Palworld legal battle continues to heat up, as new information has come to light, alongside more arguments for either side of the case. This case has been going on for roughly a year now, since it was kicked off in September of 2024, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to stop anytime soon.

According to new information spotted by GamesFray, Nintendo may have a strong argument against Palworld developer Pocketpair. How it will actually shake out is unknown, but the result could impact modding and gaming patent cases in future years.

Nintendo Is Arguing Mods Don’t Count As Games

This Battle Is Still Ongoing

For some context, Pocketpair attempted to argue that given the heavy modding of Pokémon-related content in other games, it potentially invalidated the arguments that Nintendo was making. However, Nintendo is pushing back, citing that mods are not games, and are simply subcreations of the prior art.

The mod in particular that Pocketpair cited is Pocket Souls, which adds “trainer battles” and other Pokémon content to Dark Souls 3. Nintendo is essentially arguing that mods are not games because they require an underlying framework to exist. The Tokyo District Court will now look at these arguments as it continues to mediate this ongoing situation.

Given the multiple delays in this case, several pundits have noted that there isn’t expected to be a resolution until 2026. There will, however, be twists and turns as both sides attempt to argue on their own behalf, as well as even updating patents in the middle of the proceedings.

Pocketpair’s “Prior Art” Defense Also Addressed

Who Will Win In The End?

Pocketpair is attempting to use the “prior art” defense in all this, which would potentially allow them to avoid the idea that they infringed on Nintendo’s patents. The defense is essentially arguing that many concepts cited in Nintendo’s patents existed before Pokémon. In some cases, proving this can be an uphill battle.

This battle has gotten so granular that Pocketpair is trying to prove that Nintendo did not invent the idea of a “capture ball.” Given how long patent battles can drag out, in the games industry or otherwise, this could take some time to resolve.

As we’ve discussed at length before, this Palworld battle isn’t beneficial for anyone. While this is far from over, depending on the outcome, we may see more proceedings like this emerge in the years to come.