To be fair I saw one "Pal" that just straight up used Zoruas model.
Nintendo never cared about stuff like Digimon or Cassette Beasts, so I'm guessing the problem is actual models made by Nintendo were used. Buuuuut this is Nintendo and they sent people cease and desists over Pokemon fan games FFS, so who the hell knows.
I mean, Palwords developers are skeezy, but on the other hand so is Nintendo, also fuck copyright.
i get that they're commonly seen as rivals outside of japan (because saban localised the anime w/ the very intention of challenging pokemon, instead of leveraging the obvious differences), but like, if nintendo had gone after digimon, they'd be going after literally anything featuring monsters. the original 1997 iteration of digital monster was "tamagotchi for boys," which is where battling & evolution comes in
obv the similar names might seem awfully sus, but as i understand, the abbreviating of names like that is fairly common in japan. like, if we knew the franchises as pocket monster & digital monster, there would still be a similarity there, but it would seem less egregious ig.
Honestly Nintendo has had some big wins lately getting people to fold rather than fight in court even when the fight should be winnable. Maybe they're just hoping that happens here too. Get these guys all tied up in court even if Nintendo knows they won't win just to keep the Palworld devs occupied with the court fight rather than making their game
They didn't specify which patents were being infringed upon. It'll be interesting to see how this goes. It's in Japan so I assume Nintendo's got this in the bag
According to a Mastodon post, the speculation is it’s over “patents such as one for throwing and using Poké Balls in a 3D space (JP,2023-092953,A); and one for automatically switching between ride Pokémon as a player transitions between different terrain, such as between air and the ground (JP,2023-092954,A)."
IANAL, certainly not in Japanese patent law, but the first one sounds stronger to me, but still not bulletproof.
I have pretty ambivalent feelings now, on one side my most hated videogame corpo ever, on the other chuds that openly advertise their game as slavery and exploitation simulator.
Agreed honestly. I just think this is a really fuckin stupid move on TPC's part because this TOTALLY is going to have a Streisand backlash regardless of the outcome of the suit. Which means we have to hear even more chud bullshit about it.
Is it just the advertising that you disagree with? Kinda seems like pokemon is also a slavery and exploitation simulator but all the slaves have happy faces instead of sad ones
Yes, i also don't like Pokemon very much, but Pokemon isn't openly being advertised to chuds as slavery simulator. I don't have opinion on a game, as you can notice reading the previous posts, but whomever wrote the advert needs long rest in gulag.
It's insane to me how often I see takes like this, where it's clear that not only did they not play the game, they didn't even watch a second of gameplay.
If the game didn't HEAVILY penalize you for actually trying to exploit your pals, I'd agree, but mechanically a sweatshop will actually produce nothing at all in a short period of time. Bad working conditions lead to pals stopping work altogether until you let them rest, feed them, etc. to the point it's obvious their marketing and actual game design aren't in lockstep. You're REQUIRED to treat pals well to make substantial progress.
Devs themselves advertise their game like that. Reviews are full of chuds too. It's not even changed after all those months leading me to conclusion it's intended.
Slavery playstyle is more of a meme. You're more pushed into the playstyle of improving the Pals's condition, upgrade path from better bed, better hotspring, better food, ... so they can work and rest better. It's a sandbox survival game, you can choose how to play it.
You can improve the pal's life ingame, but you as the pal in real life is
I didn't played it, my opinion is based on a description/advertisement put by devs on the game steam page, and its one of the worst things i ever read there, at best it can be described as "ironic chuddery" which is usually just a flimsy cover for real chuddery, and even gathering all the benefit of a doubt existing in galaxy for the devs, such description is sure bound to gather real chuds to the game. And it did, considering the reviews.
Joke lawsuit. The only valid response is a to any lawyer or judge who decides to waste time arbitrating whether or not a soulless husk can own a concept.
Fuck Nintendo, but this is funny to me because it’s just another cash grab early access game by a pop up game studio. they are about to spend all their profits on litigation and then abandon the game just like the rest of their projects.
Watching pokemon knock-offs build assault rifles in a sweat shop in a trailer for this game was one of the most edgelord things I've ever fucking seen. Cringy ass game, cringy ass devs. Fuck them and fuck Nintendo, too.
100% agree. The game looked like dog ass from the get-go. My disdain for it only grew as all the rubes who spent $30 bucks on it tried to defend it and tell me it’s good. I knew it wasn’t and I know the hype would fade within a week.
I think that's probably Nintendo's main goal with this lawsuit tbh. They know that they don't actually have a leg to stand on with game mechanics (unless they want to argue that cute cartoon creatures or throwing things are proprietary game mechanics) But a smaller studio spending millions to defend themselves in a massive lawsuit that will probably drag on for years? It means they can't spend all their money developing other games and will probably end up bankrupt (and no longer a threat to Nintendo).
When Palworld came out, I was surprised that the ever-litigious Nintendo didn't take some sort of legal action. So to all the people on here who thought that was a bad take and called me out, all I have to say now is: you're lovely and I appreciate you
Having played palworld it is a significantly diffrent product. I don't see specifics in thr article but it is unclear to me what the actual claim could be
If Pocketpair were American, I honestly think they might have a chance. But from what I've heard, Tokyo District Courts aren't likely to rule against Nintendo.