Earlier today, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company announced they had filed a lawsuit against the developers of Palworld, alleging that the monster collecting RPG had infringed upon its patent rights.

Following the announcement, Palworld developer Pocketpair has issued a response to the lawsuit. In the statement, Pocketpair acknowledges the lawsuit and says they will begin investigation into the claims, stating that they are currently “unaware” of the specific patents they have been accused on infringing.

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 also laments that they will have to spend “significant time to matters unrelated to game development” due to the lawsuit, but renews its commitment to continue improving Palworld, as well as ensure that “indie game developers are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas”.

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.

While Palworld was initially criticized for the strong resemblance its creatures had towards existing Pokemon, Nintendo’s lawsuit appears to be targeting something much more fundamental due to its use of the word “patent”. Many believe that Nintendo’s grievance has more to do with specific game mechanics such as throwing and capturing monsters in balls, of which The Pokemon Company has a few patents in Japan.

Stay tuned for more updates as they come.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.