Remember when Palworld set the gaming world on fire in 2024 and Nintendo and The Pokémon Company sued them for infringement? It’s all coming to a head soon.
It was no secret from the very beginning that Palworld was a Pokémon clone, but when it comes to actual copyright and making it stand up in a court of law, it’s not so simple. And a new report suggests it’s not looking good for the plaintiffs.
That’s according to legal analysis in a new report from GamesFray, which says that Nintendo has “zero chance of prevailing” in the suit’s current form when the hearing takes place later this year on Oct. 1. It’s all a bunch of legal jargon, but it mostly has to do with the fact that Palworld devs Pocketpair amended any possible infringement from early versions of the game.
When the lawsuit kicked off, Nintendo and TPC first targeted all versions of Palworld, before they “amended the scope of their claims (in terms of what they are seeking from the court, not in terms of a patent claim)” in November 2025, and the court case is now “limited to older versions of Palworld (i.e., before Pocketpair made changes to eliminate patent exposure).” This means that current versions of Palworld, which may have removed any potential issues, are not under fire.
“Based on the narrowed scope of the case, we cannot see any pathway to victory over any current or very recent Palworld version (nor Palworld 1.0, which should launch soon) for Nintendo,” the analysis said. “There will be no injunction with real-world impact.”
Palworld’s 1.0 launch is next month after over two years in early access, and while the game’s popularity has dropped off ahead of that, the good news for Pocketpair is that “the most [Nintendo and TPC] could get” from the suit is around $30,000, or five million Yen. And that’s only if it can prove that there was any actual damage done by the alleged infringement.
I’d imagine the fees for lawyers throughout all of these proceedings have already vastly surpassed that potential windfall, so this is looking like a massive L for Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. We’ll know for sure after the court date on Oct. 1 and the expected opinion on Nov. 9.
