Palworld, lovingly referred to as “Pokemon with guns”, is currently undergoing a legal dispute with Nintendo over similar mechanics. One of the mechanics that Nintendo claims Palworld has taken right from Pokemon is its Palsheres which, let’s face it, is extremely similar to the iconic PokeBalls. However, it now appears that Pocketpair has removed the mechanic entirely.
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If Nintendo is successful, it will set a dangerous precedent for the future of the games industry.
When you want to summon a Pal, players would have to toss a Palsphere from which they would appear. Most people would know that’s exactly how Pokemon are summoned as well. However, it seems this will no longer be the case as a recent update for Palworld has changed how Pals will be summoned.
PokeBalls To The Wall
A very short update by Pocketpair simply relayed that the way Pals will be summoned has changed, and that the reticle will now only appear when players aim. Nintendo had stated that it filed a lawsuit against Palworld for infringing upon multiple patent rights, and this seems like an attempt by the latter to de-escalate the issue.
Palworld Update v0.3.11 Notes:
– Player: Changed the behaviour of summoning player-owned Pals so that they are always summoned near the player
– UI: The reticle will now only be displayed when aiming
Based on the patch notes, upon being summoned, Pals will simply spawn near players now, instead of the Palsphere method. While that seems pretty bland as of now, it’s probably just a temporary fix to the problem. The devs may cook up a new specialized method or animation to summon Pals at a later date.
The PokeBall patent infringement was the biggest one that Nintendo was going after, as confirmed by Palworld. The others weren’t detailed too much, so it could be possible that it has something to do with the reticle that Pocketpair changed with this update.
The developer earlier said that it will “begin the appropriate legal proceedings and investigations into the claims of patent infringement.” However, based on this update, it looks like they will be giving in to Nintendo’s demands. This is not surprising, as we can’t expect an indie studio to go up against the juggernaut that is Nintendo.
Palworld has been described as Pokemon with guns and well, it’s hard to argue with that. The game is very similar in nature to the Pokemon formula, tasking you with catching and working with monsters called Pals. There are key differences, though. Palworld is rooted in multiplayer, oh, and, unlike Pokemon, its Pals have guns.