As players brace for the impending announcement of Palworld‘s PS5 launch, the litigious Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have filed a lawsuit against PocketPair for alleged “infringement of its intellectual property rights.” The filing doesn’t come as a surprise as Palworld has often been accused of copying Pokemon ever since it launched in early access eight months ago.
Palworld’s rumored PS5 launch won’t be impacted by the lawsuit
Nintendo announced its intention to sue PocketPair this morning, in response to which the Palworld maker vowed to fight the lawsuit. “It is truly unfortunate that we will be forced to allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development due to this lawsuit,” PocketPair wrote. “However, we will do our utmost for our fans, and to ensure that indie game developers are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas.”
Lawsuits don’t conclude overnight, and with PocketPair planning to fight back, it’ll be a while before we see the outcome. The litigation shouldn’t impact Palworld’s PS5 launch. However, there will now be a big question mark over Sony’s joint venture with PocketPair, Palworld Entertainment Co. Ltd.
A Nintendo win would certainly impact the joint venture, so Sony has a stake in this matter. Whether it’ll become directly involved in the lawsuit or not remains to be seen.
