Bad Sign: Pocketpair Updates ‘Palworld’ By Nixxing Pal Spheres
from the rolling-over dept
We’re still waiting for the lawsuit in Japan between Nintendo, The Pokémon Co., and Pocketpair to get rolling, but that doesn’t keep the dispute out of the news. The patent lawsuit, itself a surprise as everyone thought it would be a copyright gambit that Nintendo would try, centers around several patents that all relate to familiar video game gameplay mechanics. That mostly consists of the transition process between riding around or dismounting characters in an open world (absurd that this is a patent) and throwing an object to catch a creature (also absurd that this is a patent). As I detailed in our last post on the subject, I would argue, and would want Pocketpair to argue, that there are all kinds of prior art for these mechanics. And while I’m no expert in Japanese patent law, non-inventive things like this generally don’t deserve patents.
While Nintendo and The Pokémon Co. are obviously large entities with impressive legal war chests to boot, I had hoped that the success of Palworld would be such that Pocketpair had the resources to fight this out in Japanese courts. And while there’s still a chance that might happen, it’s a bit worrying to learn that the company updated the game recently, with that update removing the Pal Sphere mechanic that Nintendo is suing over.
Palworld version 0.3.11 featured changes to Pal Spheres, the palm-sized, spherical devices players use to capture and summon their Pals. The changes were first spotted by Niche Gamer, but do appear to be reflected in Palworld’s patch notes via Steam: “Changed the behaviour of summoning player-owned Pals so that they are always summoned near the player.”
In practice, what that means is that when a player summons a Pal, they no longer do so by throwing the Pal Sphere wherever they want them to appear. Instead, the Pal will simply pop up directly next to the player, and can then be commanded to attack other Pals, gather resources, et cetera. While it doesn’t fundamentally change the way the game works, it does have a palpable effect on one of its core mechanics, a change that has some players concerned.
As to why this change to a core mechanic was made, nobody at the publisher has offered any reasoning, leaving everyone instead to speculate. But come on. I can’t think of a single reason, even a hair-brained one, to make this change that doesn’t redound back to Pocketpair is looking to roll over and show its belly on the lawsuit, but I sure don’t think it helps its case if it plan to fight this out in court.
And fight it out it should, I believe. The idea that we are going to set a precedent for Nintendo and The Pokémon Co. to wield these patents for, again, fairly banal game mechanics is not good for the larger industry in Japan.
Look, we all knew that something like this was bound to happen eventually. Palworld was always playing with fire, and Nintendo is notoriously litigious. But regardless of where you land on the accusations levied against Palworld, it’s easy to see how software patent infringement claims could be taken too far. Most infamously, Namco once held a patent on loading screen mini-games that prevented almost any kind of interactivity during these periods of downtime. That patent expired in 2015, but even now, loading screen mini-games still haven’t made the resurgence they deserve.
Something similar could happen as a result of this lawsuit. Beginning combat by aiming and firing with a targeting reticle is all too common a mechanic. To see that disappear entirely would be a huge blow to open-world games with optional combat. There may be more specifics to Nintendo’s patent, and there may be an entirely different reason for the update, but at this point, it’s impossible to say exactly what’s going on behind the scenes. Still, if the rumors are true, this lawsuit could be harmful not only to Palworld specifically, but to the video game industry in general.
So, back to the waiting game, I suppose. We’ll have to see if this is in fact an indication that Pocketpair doesn’t want to fight this in court, or if this portends something else.
Filed Under: japan, palworld, patents, pokemon
Companies: nintendo, pocketpair, pokemon company
Comments on “Bad Sign: Pocketpair Updates ‘Palworld’ By Nixxing Pal Spheres”
Maybe if players reject the pokeball thing change, it could weight in the lawsuit, not in a legal way but to pressure Nintendo to ease things a little bit due to players being angry.
Of course, it would be the first time in Nintendo history but lets keep dreaming about it.
Re:
If you bought (“licensed”) the game on Steam, you can just refuse the update, no? Does Steam even keep track of metrics for how many users are up-to-date for publishers to see?
I think it could be them playing it safe.
I could see them doing this to reduce damages if they end up being found guilty.
You know, “pay $xx for every day/copy sold that you infringed.”
Doesn’t mean they wouldn’t add it back if they won, just trying to reduce damages if they lose.
Re:
This is likely it. With the next big patch and zone out in a few days, coupled with the Steam Winter Sale, they should see a fairly large burst of players for awhile. Which would be bad for any usage based penalties.
Unless the loss of spheres turns people away in some sort of retaliatory boycott.
Re:
If Nintendo were suing them for everything they’re worth, that could be the explanation, but Nintendo is only seeking the yen equivalent of $66,000 in damages. So this software surrender isn’t making any sense.
And, as the article points out, in a court, this could be seen as an admission of guilt: “Why would they remove the mechanic if they believe they didn’t break any patents?”
Re: Re:
WE don’t know what Nintendo told Pocketpair before the lawsuit. Assuming for the sake of argument Nintendo was as vague in initial discussions as the initial lawsuit, as indicated by Pocketpair’s initial responses, We can build a world where Nintendo started discussions not knowing what to sue over, and never really clarified, they just wanted to shut down Palworld. Pocketpair, after finally being made aware of the IP in contest, realizes yes, they did infringe the patent, regardless of patent validity.
In the US, Pocketpair would refuse to make changes until a settlement is reached, in part to avoid the ‘consession’ arguement.
Pocketpair’s worry is the game being pulled from the market. That’s the big remedy Nintendo wants, and this seems targeted at making that remedy moot while relying on a defense of ignorance. If this was the US, id put this as an effort to claim the affirmative defense of innocent infringement.
Of course, my entire assessment relies on Pocketpair having been honest about not knowing what the lawsuit was over and a poorly founded belief in a Japanese cultural deference to throwing yourself on your sword.
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Or they’re doing this as a temporary thing, after all it’s under beta.
Software patent. Talk about absurd.
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Needa a game where they point out how HORRIFIC it is forcing tiny sentient creatures THAT CAN SAY THEIR OWN NAME into small spheres is, and how making them fight each other nearly to death is obscene!
Binfendo, the organizers of this horrific bloodsport need to be destroyed. The world needs to end the sheer horror and cruely of TrouserCreatures/pocket monsters!
rabid rodents in hamster balls
I wonder why there’s not already a game about throwing those hamster balls with various rabid rodents in the balls.
I wonder if someone made it, if Nintendo would sue them too … I think it would be absolutely hilarious to see Nintendumb to file a case basically claiming there’s any sort of similarity between Pokemon and rabid rodents in hamster balls.
So now Nintendo is the only company selling games to children that require them to “not neglect the balls”….hmmm