Palworld shadow dropping their PS5 port proves that despite Nintendo’s lawsuit, the beloved gun-filled version of Pokemon is here to stay.
On September 18 Pocketpair was rocked with a lawsuit by Nintendo and The Pokemon Company, alleging the devs had infringed on the gaming giant’s patents and were asking for damage compensation.
However, and this is the most surprising part of the ordeal, was that Pocketpair wasn’t even made aware of which patent they had infringed when they received the lawsuit as they revealed in their response.
Now just a week after a massive lawsuit was sent to them, Palworld proudly, and suddenly, announced a PS5 port during Sony’s State of Play, and this proves that Pocketpair’s hit is here to stay.
Everybody loves Palworld, except Nintendo
Palworld’s success is, without a doubt, a miracle. For one, its devs are a small indie studio. It may not feel like it now that the game has amassed a player base in the millions, but that’s who is running the show.
Its premise, too, is absurd. It is essentially a survival crafting game with guns and monsters (Pals in this case), and it wasn’t exactly a recipe for instant success. Sure, it’s hilarious on paper, but it wasn’t what everybody imagined it would be.
As it turns out, mixing Rust-esque survival crafting mechanics, Pokemon-esque monster capturing, and a ton of charm, character, and a little bit of slave labor and Pal genocide will attract the masses in droves.
Coming out to a day one Game Pass release on January 19, it was quite clear the game had the Microsoft seal of approval. On July 10, Pocketpair announced a joint venture with Aniplex and Sony and an eventual PS5 port, yet another approval.
Besides getting the proverbial thumbs up from two of the big three, Palworld wasn’t exactly beefing with other games and publishers, except Nintendo, that is. Even then, it was Nintendo that initiated it.
Various Pokemon and Nintendo fans were the first to point out its similarities, with many claiming Palworld straight-up stole designs from other IPs. Pocketpair did what any self-respecting dev would do, defend their work as their own.
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At that point in Palworld’s early days, Nintendo could have done two things: stay silent and let Pocketpair do their own thing, or respond. The response was what they ultimately went with, first with a diplomatic statement that they would “investigate” any infringements on their IP, and then many months later a full-on lawsuit.
You could make the argument that Palworld did goad Nintendo into this, but you can’t help but side with Pocketpair in this debacle as they are very much the underdogs in the situation, and it’s quite clear that every other publisher likes them.
Right now if you’re a PlayStation player, you can now experience Palworld with almost every other platform. From PC, Xbox and even Mac, it’s all freely available. Nintendo could have been part of this cultural phenomenon, yet this is the route they’ve chosen.
Can you imagine Palworld on the Switch? I can. The game runs great on a Steam Deck, and as a relatively casual game, it’s a perfect match with the Switch’s outlook on games, less sweaty and more seeking for a chill time.
The only other game that has this level of platform support is Overwatch 2, with Mac users being the only ones unable to get access. That wasn’t out of spite, it’s probably out of some cost-saving measures. The result is that to this day it’s one of the biggest live service games right now, despite the slew of negative press.
Palworld is clearly not a one-hit wonder. It has the gameplay, regular updates from devs who care about their fans, a fervent player base, and the love of the wider industry. The only thing they lack is Nintendo’s respect, but who cares?
Nintendo has such a long history of DMCAs and lawsuits against fans who are just trying to pay tribute to their IPs. Be it the forced takedowns of Smash tournaments, shutdowns of emulators, or even innocuous DMCA claims of various YouTube videos or fan art.
The Palworld legal saga is yet another case of this, except on a much bigger scale.
However, unlike many other instances of Nintendo throwing their weight around, Pocketpair has the support of the entire industry, and everyone loves Palworld and wants to see it stick around.
