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Nintendo filed a lawsuit against Pocketpair, Inc.
(www.nintendo.co.jp)
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this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2024
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I don't understand. Everyone, literally EVERYONE was calling this game pokemon with guns when it released, so why are people mad that the makers of pokemon are suing? We all saw it from the start
The comparison is valid, but doesn't mean it infringes on any patent.
Otherwise, FromSoftware would sue the shit out of every soulslike out there.
Just because it has a resemblance to pokemon doesn't make it pokemon. The gameplay is completely different.
Palworld is an open world survival crafting factory/base building game, that happens to borrow the catching mechanic from Pokemon (who borrowed it from Shin Megami Tensei).
If you can't draw inspiration from other games, then the gaming industry as a whole is in trouble.
K first of all, the mechanic you're referencing was already an established mechanic before Pokemon Red/Blue came out. The Pokemon Company didn't invent the "creature catcher" genre of video games.
Second of all, as I've said already, the catching mechanic in Palworld is absolutely distinct enough to be considered as drawing inspiration from Pokemon, and not copying. If you wanna get into the nitty gritty, I'll meet you down there, but if you're just gonna continue to spout meaningless contrarianisms I've got better things to do
Third of all, "cell shaded anime art style" describes hundreds if not thousands of video games, not just Pokemon games. You can't realistically claim that Palworld copied Pokemon's art style* just because it uses a cell-shaded anime style, especially because Pokemon has only used that art direction for the last two generations of games, and the style has been in use long before sword and shield came out.
If you think "throwing a ball" is a patentable (or even copyrightable) mechanic, I've got a bridge to sell you.
Some pals are similar to Pokemon, sure, but a lot are quite distinct. If you have a problem with that though, take it up with The Pokemon Company, because they did it first.
Of course it was intentional to make a game in the same genre as Pokemon, with similar mechanics. That's how video games in the same genre work. You make them similar to things you know people like, so that there's a greater chance they'll like your game too, but you also introduce new, unique things so that you're not copying. Yes, Palworld did that intentionally.
None of that is illegal though, or shouldn't be anyways, unless they're straight up stealing assets/code from a Pokemon game and using it in Palworld.
And like I've said before, Shin Megami Tensei did this before Pokemon. This concept was not original to Pokemon, and exists in several other creature catcher games.
Then you haven't seen a large portion of Pals. Plenty of pals are unique. Some of them look similar to Pokemon, sure, because they're based on the same real world animal.
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K, Palworld has flaws. Never claimed otherwise.
We've run far field of the point though. Palworld is being sued for patent infringement. If there was ever a patent on the "weaken creature then capture" mechanic, it's long expired, so they're not being sued over that. They're not being sued over art or Pal designs, because that would be copyright infringement, not a patent violation.
Given those facts, what do you think Palworld is being sued for?
Agree to disagree then. I highly doubt they're suing over the capture mechanic. If they ever had a patent for that, it would have expired already.
You obviously haven't actually played the game.
Obviously not
Just play the game and find out.
Copying would imply a one to one duplication. The catching system in Palworld differs in multiple ways from the Pokemon system. I think that's enough to call it borrowing and not copying.
Lots of games are also called Roguelike. Based off a game called Rogue. The makers of Rogue do not get to sue the makers of Hades.
Pets that fight for you, including being able to store them for portable carry has been done by many other games, including Ark. In fact, playing Palworld made me compare it more to Ark than Pokemon: base building, automation, catching dinos/animals/monsters of different varieties for different uses. Some can fly, some run, some can be used as parachutes. Some help automate actions at base. There is a tech tree unlocked by leveling, starting with primitive weapons and moving on to guns and higher caliber guns. Blueprints are common in ark for higher quality crafts to build at, you guessed it, crafting benches.
Collecting wood, stone, metals, etc. Also the animal assistants can help there too, but only certain ones. Also, Ark has cryopods for storing your animals/dinosaurs. You even throw em to release.
If they had exactly Pikachu or something it's one thing, but similar games are just part of the business.
But we're not talking about a game type here. You can agree that this is a dumb lawsuit, but you have to be honest. Palworld was marketed online as pokemon with guns. It's not just a similar style but almost identically copies the characters in Pokemon. You can make a stealth action political thriller video game, but if the main character looks just like solid Snake and is called "Viper", you gonna get sued.
Really? Why does Deathstroke and Deadpool both exist? One is DC, one is Marvel, and Deadpool pretty much started as an expy. Slade Wilson and Wade Wilson. You're arguing from a place of what feels like it should be wrong, yet your fake example has been done in the real world and they got away with it.
This happens so many times in industries they can often just argue parody. In fact, changing a name slightly is classic parody to avoid being sued. Japan in particular often just bleeps out a syllable or forgets a character in the name.
I guess you must know more than lawyers huh.
I think it's understandable why they sue them (I doubt it holds up in court though), it's just horrible business practice because Nintendo is too lazy to actually innovate and do something creative for a change, instead of sitting on franchises like that and do fuck all with it, only releasing repetitive piss-poor games based on the exact same concept they invented like 30+ years ago.
The problem is people will still buy Pokemon, even if they're absolute garbage games. So Nintendo won't change it either.
I think it's an issue with Japanese game companies in general. I've been complaining about Capcom forever. Megaman 11 was a side scroller. I'm a massive mega man fan and I like the side scroll. But it's 2024. Can we try something new? I would love a ratchet and Clank style, open world 3d mega man where you go to the different areas of the city and take down the bosses. Also games like monster hunter, are so janky and look 10 years out of date, and most Capcom games look outdated