Nintendo Lawsuit Against Palworld Now Only Targeting Older Versions Of The Game

For the past few years, Nintendo has been engaged in a lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair, alleging that their game had violated several of Nintendo’s patents.

According to the latest report from Gamesfray, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company appear to have narrowed the scope of their lawsuit to target only “older versions” of Palworld as of 2025. Presumably, this is to account for the various changes Pocketpair made to Palworld in response to the lawsuit, whereby several game mechanics were adjusted to be more different from the patents Nintendo was suing them over.

As for the current status of the case, public records imply that both Nintendo and Pocketpair have finished submitting evidence on both sides. The courts will hold a presentation of evidence on October 1st 2026, and will express their opinion on November 9th 2026. Gamesfray argues that given the reduced scope, Nintendo now only stands to gain around 5 million Japanese Yen, or the equivalent of $30K USD if they were to win. This would be a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of money both parties have likely spent on the lawsuit.

In light of these developments, Pocketpair will likely be able to go ahead with the launch of Palworld 1.0 later this month and continue development of the game unimpeded by Nintendo’s attempts at legal action. Even so, one could argue that Nintendo has already managed to do significant damage to the developer and the game, both through legal fees and through forcing changes to key gameplay mechanics.

That said, lawsuit itself has yet to be fully settled, stay tuned for more updates as they come.

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