Nintendo’s Lawsuit Against Pocket Pair Could Backfire Financially, According to Japanese Lawyer
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- A Japanese lawyer believes that Nintendo might not be able to recoup the legal costs even if it wins its lawsuit against Pocket Pair.
- He cited the price of the lawyers Nintendo is using and the amount of money it’s asking for damages.
- The legal battle between Nintendo and Pocket Pair started in September 2024.
Kiyoshi Kurihara, a Japanese lawyer specializing in patents, believes that Nintendo might not be able to recoup the money it spent even if it won its lawsuit against Pocket Pair’s Palworld. This is due to the fact that Nintendo is using lawyers from major law firms in Japan, and it is only asking for 10 million Japanese yen for the damages.
However, since Nintendo can change the value of compensation later, it might use this opportunity to recoup the money it spent on its lawyers. Kurihara also believes that this specific lawsuit isn’t as overwhelmingly in favor of Nintendo as its other cases. He mentions Nintendo vs. Colopl as an example.
The legal battle between Nintendo and Pocket Pair started in September 2024. The lawsuit has affected the development of Palworld, and Pocket Pair was forced to change some of the game’s mechanics because of it. As of the writing of this article, Pal Sphere mechanics and Gliding mechanics were two of the game’s features that were changed.
Palworld was released in January 2024 for PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. A PlayStation 5 version followed in September 2024. On Steam, it averages around 31,000 concurrent players per day, but it reached a peak of over 2 million players on Jan. 22, 2024.
