Palworld provides update on Pokemon lawsuit and gameplay changes

Pocketpair, the dev team behind Palworld, recently provided an update on the ongoing The Pokemon Company and Nintendo lawsuit. The lengthy statement appeared on the game's official X channel. It talks about the "prolonged legal proceedings regarding alleged patent infringement" and "certain compromises" the developers had to undertake to "avoid disruption" to Palworld.

When Palworld debuted in early access back in January 2024, players were quick to note the similarities with the Pokemon franchise, earning Pocketpair's game the moniker "Pokemon with guns". Nintendo and The Pokemon Company's lawsuit came in September 2024.

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Pocketpair discusses Palworld gameplay changes brought upon by The Pokemon Company lawsuit

As mentioned previously, Pocketpair noted that they had to make "certain compromises" to continue with the "development and distribution of Palworld". The first such change they discuss is the removal of the ability to throw Pal Spheres and summon Pals.

"On November 30th, 2024, we released Patch v0.3.11 for Palworld. This patch removed the ability to summon Pals by throwing Pal Spheres and instead changed it to a static summon next to the player. Several other game mechanics were also changed with this patch."

The post continues to state that while they were disappointed with the adjustment, they had to settle for it as any other "alternative would have led to an even greater deterioration of the gameplay experience for players".

Apart from that, the post also mentioned:

"From this patch [Patch v0.5.5] onward, gliding will be performed using a glider rather than with Pals. Pals in the player's team will still provide passive buffs to gliding, but players will now need to have a glider in their inventory in order to glide."

In Nintendo's statement regarding the lawsuit, the company had stated:

"This lawsuit seeks an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds that Palworld, a game developed and released by the Defendant, infringes multiple patent rights. Nintendo will continue to take necessary actions against any infringement of its intellectual property rights including the Nintendo brand itself, to protect the intellectual properties it has worked hard to establish over the years."

Pocketpair's decision to provide updates on the ongoing legal proceedings allows the Palworld community to keep abreast of the matter and also understand why certain changes are being made in-game.