Nintendo and The Pokemon Company stand to win no more than 5 million yen, around $30,000, from their patent lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair, with the case now confined to older versions of the game. As of 13 June 2026, the written pleadings and evidence have been filed, and the Tokyo District Court has scheduled a presentation of evidence for October 1, with an opinion due on November 9, 2026.

The narrowed scope leaves Nintendo with no realistic path to blocking any current, recent, or upcoming build of Palworld, including the Palworld 1.0 release due on July 10. What started as an attempt to halt the game entirely has shrunk to a fight over old code and a payout that would not cover Nintendo’s legal bills.

The Case Is Now Limited To Older Palworld Versions

Nintendo and The Pokemon Company began their lawsuit against Pocketpair in Japan in 2024, built around three Japanese patents covering how monsters are caught in a virtual field. Palworld used a mechanic where players threw a ball-like Pal Sphere at creatures to capture them, similar to the system in the 2022 Nintendo Switch title Pokemon Legends: Arceus.

In November 2025, the plaintiffs amended the scope of their claims so the case now targets only older versions of Palworld, rather than every release. The change followed a series of gameplay edits Pocketpair made specifically to remove the disputed mechanics. Patch v0.3.11, released in November 2024, removed the ability to summon Pals by throwing Pal Spheres and switched to a static summon beside the player, alongside several other mechanic changes. In May 2025, Pocketpair changed the game again so gliding was performed with a glider rather than with Pals.

Pocketpair described those edits as compromises forced on the studio by the threat of an injunction. The developer said at the time that the changes were necessary to prevent further disruption to Palworld’s development, adding that it understood the move would disappoint players just as it disappointed the studio.

Why The Payout Could Be Just $30,000

Even if Nintendo clears every hurdle, defends its patents against Pocketpair’s invalidity challenges, proves infringement, and ties the damage to that infringement, the maximum it could recover is 5 million yen, roughly $30,000. As IP expert Florian Mueller put it, writing on games fray, that figure is chump change for either party and a rounding error against Nintendo’s litigation expenses.

The reason is timing. Palworld launched in January 2024 priced at $30 on Steam and went straight into Game Pass on Xbox and PC, breaking sales and concurrent player records. Nintendo only brought the divisional patent applications after that launch, and Pocketpair changed the game’s mechanics that November. That leaves a short window, with limited sales volume confined to Japan, for which Nintendo can claim damages. A Japanese patent is valid only in Japan, so worldwide Palworld sales are out of reach.

Mueller framed the stakes bluntly, saying the litigation is no longer about anything serious in commercial terms, and that it now concerns a hypothetical injunction that does not apply to current product versions and, at most, a small damages award for a period in which Pocketpair generated limited new sales in Japan.

What Happens Next In The Lawsuit

Pocketpair raised a range of defences across the proceedings, filing numerous invalidity challenges and non-infringement arguments, and submitting expert opinions from former judges to counter Nintendo’s accusations. Nintendo could still lose outright if the patents are found invalid or never infringed.

Nintendo’s broader patent strategy has also run into trouble. In April 2026, the USPTO rejected the company’s contested “summon character and let it fight” Pokemon patent after heavy criticism from IP lawyers, and the Japan Patent Office has grown sceptical of Nintendo’s game-rule patent applications. That difficulty in securing game-rule patents in key jurisdictions may discourage Nintendo from opening a fresh lawsuit against Pocketpair in another country.

Palworld 1.0 Arrives In July

Palworld 1.0 is due to launch on July 10, with its release date and further details revealed at Summer Game Fest 2026. Pocketpair has also filed a trademark for Palworld Online in the United States and South Korea, and the studio earlier signed a deal with Sony to form Palworld Entertainment, the business tasked with expanding the IP, before bringing the game to PS5. The court delivers its opinion on November 9, by which point Palworld 1.0 will have been on the market for nearly four months.

The post Nintendo Palworld Lawsuit Now Limited To Old Versions – $30,000 Payout At Most appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

A newly revealed game called Pickmon is already stirring up controversy online, with players accusing it of copying ideas, designs, and even marketing language from several well-known franchises including Pokémon, Palworld, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

The multiplayer survival game recently appeared on Steam as the first non-mobile title from developer PocketGame. But instead of excitement around a new monster-taming adventure, much of the early reaction has focused on how closely the game resembles existing titles, and how little effort some players believe was made to hide those similarities.

Pickmon’s Steam Reveal Immediately Sparked Copycat Claims

According to its Steam page, Pickmon is described as a “multiplayer open-world survival crafter” where players explore a vast continent filled with creatures called Pickmon. Players can team up with these monsters to fight enemies, gather resources, farm land, and build large industrial settlements.

The problem, many observers say, is that the description itself appears strikingly similar to the one used for Palworld, which describes players fighting, farming, building, and working alongside creatures called Pals in an open-world survival crafting game.

Pickmon’s reveal trailer quickly amplified those comparisons. Within seconds, viewers are greeted by gentle piano music that strongly resembles the style used in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, before a blond protagonist who closely resembles Link glides off a cliff over a landscape that looks similar to the Great Plateau starting area.

Trailer Footage Shows Familiar Mechanics And Designs

As the trailer continues, more similarities appear.

The main character travels alongside a creature that strongly resembles Pikachu, while other monsters featured in the footage look similar to well-known Pokémon such as Charizard, Lucario, Ceruledge, Cobalion, and Meganium.

Some creatures are also shown carrying firearms, a mechanic that became widely associated with Palworld when it launched in 2024.

Several gameplay clips show additional mechanics that echo Nintendo titles. Players appear to use a glider to travel across the world, and large towers emitting beams of light into the sky resemble the Sheikah Towers used to reveal the map in Breath of the Wild.

One moment even shows a character riding a creature that transforms between vehicle and monster forms, which some players say resembles rideable Pokémon like Miraidon and Koraidon from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

Allegations Of Stolen Pokémon Fan Designs

Beyond visual similarities to existing games, Pickmon has also drawn criticism from artists who believe their work was used without permission.

An artist known online as Elpsy claimed on X that one of her fan-created Pokémon designs appeared in the game’s promotional art without credit. The design, a bug and fairy style creature she had named Meganium, is reportedly featured prominently in Pickmon’s key artwork.

Pickmon stole one of my designs! #Pokémon #pokemonart #pokemonfanart pic.twitter.com/ua1za5XzcM

— Elpsy (@ElpsyFake01) March 9, 2026

Other fan artists have also shared examples of fictional Pokémon designs that they believe were copied into the game.

These claims have not yet been publicly addressed by the developers.

Even The Studio Name Has Raised Eyebrows

The developer behind the game, PocketGame, has no previous titles listed on Steam. The game’s publisher, NETWORKGO, previously released a lesser-known fantasy game called Hainya World.

Some observers have pointed out that the studio name PocketGame itself closely resembles Pocketpair, the developer behind Palworld.

At the end of the Pickmon reveal trailer, the studio logo even briefly appears misspelled as “PokeGame,” something viewers quickly noticed and shared across social media.

Pickmon Also Borrows Elements From Other Games

The comparisons do not stop with Pokémon, Zelda, and Palworld.

Some players say characters in the trailer resemble other gaming figures as well, including what appears to be a version of Roadhog from Overwatch. Others have spotted creatures similar to animals from farming games such as Story of Seasons.

The one mechanic that appears slightly different is how players capture monsters. Instead of using Poké Ball style items, Pickmon uses cards to tame creatures.

While that small change might help distinguish the mechanic on paper, most reactions online suggest it has not done much to convince players that the game offers something genuinely new.

Questions Around Pickmon’s Summer Game Fest Claim

The reveal trailer also claims Pickmon is part of Summer Game Fest 2026, although the event is still months away and organiser Geoff Keighley has not mentioned the game publicly.

That has raised additional questions about the project, including whether the trailer was officially associated with the event or simply used the branding.

The developers are currently encouraging streamers and content creators to contact them to participate in an early access experience ahead of the game’s planned public early access launch in 2027.

Nintendo’s Ongoing Legal Battles Add More Context

The Pickmon controversy arrives while Nintendo is already engaged in legal disputes involving monster-catching mechanics.

The company filed a lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair in late 2024, arguing the game infringed on patents related to monster summoning mechanics associated with Pokémon.

However, the legal situation has grown complicated. Japanese authorities rejected Nintendo’s attempt to patent certain Pokémon-style capture systems in 2025, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office later re-examined one of Nintendo’s previously granted patents.

Nintendo is also currently involved in a separate legal battle over tariffs imposed on imported products in the United States.

Even with those cases ongoing, the company has historically been very aggressive when defending its intellectual property. That reputation has led many players to speculate that Pickmon could eventually face legal scrutiny if it continues development.

For now, the game remains listed on Steam with early access expected sometime in 2027.

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