"The timing is particularly baffling: Nintendo did not strike when the iron was hot and everyone was talking about Palworld and Pokémon, and at this late date, why bother? The greatest heights of Palworld's success were clearly driven by the memetic catchiness of its Pokémon parody, now it's just another survival crafting game with a stable enough core community⁠—see also Valheim or Sons of the Forest. Palword has faded into the background, a brief curiosity overshadowed by 2024's far more enduring megahit, Helldivers 2. Just in time for everyone to have largely forgotten about Palworld and moved on, Nintendo has swooped in to announce: "In case you've forgotten, they're the little guy, and we are huge, awful bullies."

Palworld has reportedly made nearly $500 million now (source - Simon Carless). Even if Nintendo win in some way won't it cost them so much more to take Pocket Pair down now?

[–] [email protected] 36 points 2 months ago (5 children)

They waited until they could file a few new patents, namely the catching and mounting mechanisms. Now they have a bit more legal standing it seems, although I'm not sure how this is all gonna shake out

[–] pennomi 30 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Patents filed after your rival releases a product don’t work - it’s textbook prior art.

[–] Killer 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

They aren't "new" patents. They're divisional patents, essentially splitting an older patent into two different patents that retain the date of the parent patent.

Either way this is a pretty scummy move on Nintendo's part.

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