By Bixyl Shuftan
The game nicknamed "Pokemon with guns" is ending up in court.
In January, the game Palworld was released by Pocketpair, a small gaming company. In the game players tame creatures with various abilities, train them, and have them go up against other creatures, or craft items at tthe player's base. Because weapons are used in the game, including by creatures, the game got the nickname "Pokemon with guns." When releasied, the game was a big success, "explosively popular," selling five million copies in three days.
But fans saw similarities to Pokemon, and there were claims that the game was a "Pokemon rip-off," though there were also survival game elements. Pocketpair stated that the game "had passed legal checks." But soon after the game's release, the claims had attracted the attention of Pokemon's owner Nintendo, which announced it was investigating the claims of copying.
On September 19, Nintendo announced it was officially filing a lawsuit in Japan against Pocketpair, claiming the game violated "multiple patent rights." Pocketpair responded the following day, saying they didn't know which such patents Nintendo refered to, and wasn't "notified of such details." It went on to say, "It is truly unfortunate that we will be forced to allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development due to this lawsuit. 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. We apologize to our fans and supporters for any worry or discomfort that this news has caused."
BBC News quoted gaming industry analyst Piers Harding Rolls as saying Nintendo "has a track record of suing organisations and individuals which it feels has infringed upon its IP," and that this lawsuit continues the trend, the BBC going on to say they'd won a $15 million suit against several Chinese game developers.
PC Gamer would talk to patent lawyer Kirk Sigmon. He felt Nintendo has "shown in the last couple of years a really fiery desire to enforce in a way they didn't used to. Back in the day, they turned a blind eye to fan games. ... My suspicion is they have changed their perspective on how to handle infringement, or what they perceive to be infringement, or theft, or IP theft, or anything like that. What used to be something they might turn a blind eye to, they might be looking at now—especially for something like Palworld, where it was so obviously a smash hit that invited a lot of comparisons. For them, this is a massive target that they need to declare: 'Don't do this to us ever again.'
"You can get conspiratorial and wonder if this is just an attempt to scare the hell out of Palworld. In the US, at least, these patents you wouldn't assert. They're pretty weak. They're pretty tough to assert. But the fact that they're doing it in Japan, maybe they have more confidence in the Japanese patent system to protect them. It definitely feels like a punishment. It definitely feels like, 'You can't go after our crown and now we're going to make you pay for it.'
"The thing that sucks about them is that if you get sued, it's a lot of money, no matter how you shake it. You're burning millions of dollars just trying to make this go away. It hurts, and people know it hurts. ... one of the powerful things about patent lawsuits is that they are very difficult. Your general attorneys cannot do this sort of work. You've got to go find specialists. You've got to go hire up a team to do it. You've got to find people who are very good at doing it, or else you're going to lose almost automatically. It gets extremely expensive and time consuming, and it can wear a lot of small companies out. It is designed to make you no longer play in the game. So unfortunately, that's probably a consideration for Nintendo. Palworld did very well. They made a lot of money, but getting hit with a lawsuit that, at minimum, is going to cost you a couple of million in legal fees? That sucks."
But he felt that odds were, there would be a negotiated settlement before the court date. Nintendo's case has weaknesses, and looks like it's pushing around a smaller and weaker company. Pocketpair is facing an expensive suit it can't handle as well as a giant like Nintendo. There may be some changes in the game, or "It could be something as simple as a licensing agreement. ... Somewhere in the middle, there's going to be money exchanging hands. Either way, my suspicion is neither of them want to go into a lawsuit."
So what ultimately happens? Time will tell. In the meantime, both fans of Palworld, and small gaming companies, are keeping an eye on the lawsuit.
Bixyl Shuftan
But fans saw similarities to Pokemon, and there were claims that the game was a "Pokemon rip-off," though there were also survival game elements. Pocketpair stated that the game "had passed legal checks." But soon after the game's release, the claims had attracted the attention of Pokemon's owner Nintendo, which announced it was investigating the claims of copying.
On September 19, Nintendo announced it was officially filing a lawsuit in Japan against Pocketpair, claiming the game violated "multiple patent rights." Pocketpair responded the following day, saying they didn't know which such patents Nintendo refered to, and wasn't "notified of such details." It went on to say, "It is truly unfortunate that we will be forced to allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development due to this lawsuit. 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. We apologize to our fans and supporters for any worry or discomfort that this news has caused."
BBC News quoted gaming industry analyst Piers Harding Rolls as saying Nintendo "has a track record of suing organisations and individuals which it feels has infringed upon its IP," and that this lawsuit continues the trend, the BBC going on to say they'd won a $15 million suit against several Chinese game developers.
"You can get conspiratorial and wonder if this is just an attempt to scare the hell out of Palworld. In the US, at least, these patents you wouldn't assert. They're pretty weak. They're pretty tough to assert. But the fact that they're doing it in Japan, maybe they have more confidence in the Japanese patent system to protect them. It definitely feels like a punishment. It definitely feels like, 'You can't go after our crown and now we're going to make you pay for it.'
"The thing that sucks about them is that if you get sued, it's a lot of money, no matter how you shake it. You're burning millions of dollars just trying to make this go away. It hurts, and people know it hurts. ... one of the powerful things about patent lawsuits is that they are very difficult. Your general attorneys cannot do this sort of work. You've got to go find specialists. You've got to go hire up a team to do it. You've got to find people who are very good at doing it, or else you're going to lose almost automatically. It gets extremely expensive and time consuming, and it can wear a lot of small companies out. It is designed to make you no longer play in the game. So unfortunately, that's probably a consideration for Nintendo. Palworld did very well. They made a lot of money, but getting hit with a lawsuit that, at minimum, is going to cost you a couple of million in legal fees? That sucks."
But he felt that odds were, there would be a negotiated settlement before the court date. Nintendo's case has weaknesses, and looks like it's pushing around a smaller and weaker company. Pocketpair is facing an expensive suit it can't handle as well as a giant like Nintendo. There may be some changes in the game, or "It could be something as simple as a licensing agreement. ... Somewhere in the middle, there's going to be money exchanging hands. Either way, my suspicion is neither of them want to go into a lawsuit."
So what ultimately happens? Time will tell. In the meantime, both fans of Palworld, and small gaming companies, are keeping an eye on the lawsuit.
Bixyl Shuftan
Image Credit: BBC, PC Gamer
Sources: BBC, Nintendo, Pocketpair, PC Gamer
No comments:
Post a Comment