How Nintendo dismantles PalWorld Piece by piece

Palworld, the controversial survival game often nicknamed “Pokémon with weapons”, undergoes an important setback against Nintendo.

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The PocketPair developer has just confirmed that he must modify several fundamental mechanisms of the game due to the current legal dispute with the Japanese giant and The Pokémon Company.

Central mechanics removed under legal pressure

This decision marks a significant first victory for Nintendo in its battle against what it considers a violation of its intellectual property. According to information confirmed by Pocketpairseveral emblematic features of the game have already been removed or will soon be modified.

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The first adjustments intervened in November 2024 with the Patch V0.3.11, which deleted the possibility of invoking monsters by launching “friendly balls” – a mechanism very similar to Poké Balls. Instead, creatures now appear staticly next to the player.

More recently, the Patch V0.5.5 introduces another major change: the flight hovered with the help of “Pals” (the creatures of the game) will be replaced by a conventional glider that players will have to transport in their inventory. Although monsters still offer passive flight improvements, the direct interaction between the player and the creature – the central element of the gameplay – is eliminated.

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At the heart of the dispute are three patents belonging to Nintendo and The Pokémon Company relating to the monster capture gameplay.

Notable fact, these patents were filed between February and July 2024 – after the release of Palworld in January 2024. Nintendo officially demands 10 million yen (around 62,000 euros) of damages, an amazing amount which suggests that the main objective is not financial but rather to exercise control over the game mechanics.

PocketPair does not remain inactive in the face of these legal attacks. The studio argues that many mechanics claimed by Nintendo have already been used in previous games – including in its own title Craftopia – and are therefore not patentable. In court documents dating from February 2025, the developer maintains that Nintendo should not have been granted these patents.

It must be said that the American Patent Office, which had already rejected 22 of the 23 patent applications filed by Nintendo last February. Despite this, the legal and financial pressure exerted by the video game giant has obviously forced PocketPair to make important concessions.

Unfortunately, the mechanisms that made Palworld distinguished themselves from other survival games were systematically deleted or weakened. The formula that allowed the game to reach its viral success gradually loses its substance.

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