Earlier this year, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair, allegeding that their game had violated several of Nintendo’s patents. The lawsuit called for an injunction against Palworld and for Pocketpair to pay a sum of damages to Nintendo.

Recently, Pocketpair released an update to Palworld that changes some of the mechanics related to Pal Spheres, the multicolored balls players use to capture Pals. Now, instead of being able to throw their Pal Spheres to release their caught Pals to battle, players hold their Pal Spheres in their hands for their Pal to appear by their side.

Although Pocketpair gave no reason for this change, many suspect that it was in response to the aforementioned lawsuit. All of the patents that Nintendo is suing Palworld over have something to do with the throwing of Pokeballs to capture or ride Pokemon.

Palworld currently uses Pal Spheres in a very similar way to Pokeballs, and these changes may be Pocketpair’s attempt to adjust the game so it no longer infringes on Nintendo’s patents. Similar actions were taken by developer Colopl when their game White Cat Project was sued by Nintendo for patent infringement.

The White Cat Project lawsuit eventually ended in a settlement, and it seems like the likely outcome for the Palworld lawsuit if it continues down the same path. Stay tuned for more updates as they come.

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