Palworld Dev Announces “Disappointing” Game Changes Resulting From Nintendo’s Lawsuit
Image: Pocketpair Late last year, Palworld developer Pocketpair announced that it was scrapping the Poké Ball-like summoning mechanic from
Late last year, Palworld developer Pocketpair announced that it was scrapping the Poké Ball-like summoning mechanic from its game as a result of its ongoing Nintendo lawsuit. Well, it looks like the changes aren’t stopping there, as the dev has today announced that more “disappointing” changes are yet to come.
In a new tweet, the company confirmed that the 2024 Pal Sphere update was indeed “a result of the ongoing litigation” and that the team was disappointed by its removal, but “the alternative would have led to an even greater deterioration of the gameplay experience for players”.
The latest patch (ver. 0.5.5) contains “yet another compromise,” the Pocketpair statement continues. As of this update, in-game gliding will now take place via a glider rather than on the back of one of your Pals. “Pals in the player’s team will still provide passive buffs to gliding,” the dev states, “but players will now need to have a glider in their inventory in order to glide”.
Both the summoning/catching of creatures and riding on them were particular points of contention in the Nintendo patents integral to this case. While the removal of them would certainly seem to be a step in the right direction, Pocketpair confirms that, “We continue to dispute [Nintendo’s] claims and assert the invalidity of the patents in question,” so don’t expect the legal proceedings to wrap up any time soon.
“We also want to extend our apologies to our fans for the discomfort and concern this ongoing litigation has caused,” the statement concludes, “We remain committed to developing Palworld and delivering exciting new content to our fans”.
In its most recent legal development, Pocketpair pointed to Pikmin 3 Deluxe, Octopath Traveler and a host of other titles as ‘proof’ that Nintendo’s patented mechanics pop up all over the place. Meanwhile, Nintendo appeared to be preparing to take the case international after gaining approval for several related patents in the US.
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