Palworld Devs Pocketpair Talks Nintendo Lawsuit & Shock That Followed

After initially believing they were safe from Nintendo’s legal action — something many had predicted would come its way — Palworld has become a target of the Japanese giant’s legal team. As of writing, the final outcome of the lawsuit between Nintendo and Pocketpair remains uncertain. The core argument is a patent infringement claim, accusing Palworld of using protected intellectual property without authorisation. In a recent presentation at GDC 2025, Pocketpair admitted they were “caught off guard.”

As reported by PCGamer, this revelation was made by Pocketpair’s Global Community Manager, John Buckley, during his latest presentation at GDC 2025.

“We did legal checks before Palworld released and they were all cleared in Japan,” Buckley said. “So obviously when the lawsuit was announced, we were like, ‘What?’ And we went back to the lawyers, and the lawyers contacted the courts and asked, ‘What’s going on?’ and that’s when we realized it was patents they were going for.”

He shared that the situation had deeply affected the Pocketpair team. It has been an emotionally challenging period, particularly because most of the team members idolized Pokémon and Nintendo. The psychological toll on the developers was significant.

Making matters worse, the legal battle also forced the team to limit its promotional activities for the PlayStation version of Palworld and scale back their booth presence at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show. They even had to hire additional security teams as a precautionary measure.

Buckley emphasized that Pocketpair had not been reckless in bringing Palworld to the gaming industry. The company had conducted a thorough legal review specifically for Japan, which initially indicated no legal risks. Imagine their surprise when they received the legal notice from Nintendo.

Nintendo’s lawsuit against Palworld, filed under the Pocketpair banner, was officially initiated in September 2024. The terms are for an injunction against the game, as well as ¥5 million for the infringements. However, as of now, there is still no clear resolution to the case.