The Palworld affair is taking a new turn and Nintendo has finally spoken out on the issue. It is very clear that sanctions are likely to come down.
Palworld is still a huge success, there’s no doubt about that. It’s still impressive on Steam and the game is still one of the best sellers, easily reaching the top spot. From the beginning, many people have accused the game of copying or even violating Pokémon rights. Far from being indifferent to all this excitement, Nintendo has once again spoken out on the issue. Is this the end of the survival game?
Nintendo takes up arms against Palworld
We know that Pokémon Company is selective when it comes to intellectual property. Just two weeks ago, the company had already made its voice heard by declaring in a press release that we shared with you that it “ intends to investigate any violations of intellectual property rights relating to Pokémon and take appropriate action to remedy them “. Well, this time it is directly the parent company Nintendo that speaks out and raises its voice. During the financial results, the president of the Japanese giant, Shuntaro Furukawa, answered a question about the famous controversial game, as reported by the very serious press Reuters . In return, the company declares that it will take appropriate action against those who violate its intellectual property rights. So this is a new blow to the table and a new threat.
Now it remains to be seen what will happen next from a legal perspective. There is no doubt that Nintendo must have already begun to closely examine the Palworld case to determine under what conditions an intellectual property right was infringed. In general, Big N doesn’t do things by halves when it comes to turning its back, and the company isn’t afraid to take legal action.
A prudent company
We recall, for example, that in 2018, Nintendo sued a Japanese karting company, MariCar, which offered karting rides on the streets of Tokyo without authorization, dressed as Mario Kart characters. Nintendo won the case and MariCar was forced to pay damages and stop using Big N’s costumes and trademarks. Although the case is different, it shows how serious the business is.
That same year, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the websites LoveROMs and LoveRETRO for illegally distributing copies of its games. Nintendo won the case and the website owners had to pay Nintendo a large sum in damages because they were no longer allowed to close their websites.
