Palworld has launched on PS5 in Japan even as its developer battles a lawsuit with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company in the country.
Palworld’s long-awaited PS5 release shadow-dropped on September 24 after an announcement during Sony’s State of Play broadcast, but while gamers in 68 countries worldwide were downloading the survival and crafting game dubbed 'Pokémon with guns' on PlayStation, Japanese gamers had to wait.
The Japanese PS5 release comes hot on the heels of Nintendo and The Pokémon Company’s shock joint lawsuit against Pocketpair for alleged patent infringement, which was filed in Japan.
Pocketpair has insisted it had no idea which patents it’s accused of infringing, but experts have pointed to a “killer patent” that revolves around the mechanic of catching Pokémon itself. Last week, one patent expert said the lawsuit shows “just how seriously Nintendo views the threat of Palworld.”
After Palworld’s huge launch earlier this year on PC and Xbox, comparisons were made between Palworld’s Pals and Pokémon, with some accusing Pocketpair of "ripping off" Pokémon designs. But rather than file a copyright infringement lawsuit, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have gone down the patent route.
It is worth noting that Palworld does include a mechanic that involves throwing a ball-like object (called a Pal Sphere) at monsters out in a field to capture them, similar to the mechanic seen in the 2022 Nintendo Switch exclusive Pokémon Legends: Arceus, and this may prove the key to the lawsuit.
Palworld launched on Steam priced $30 and straight into Game Pass on Xbox and PC earlier this year, breaking sales and concurrent player number records in the process. Pocketpair boss Takuro Mizobe has said Palworld's launch was so big that the developer couldn’t handle the massive profits the game generated.
Still, Pocketpair acted swiftly to capitalize on Palworld’s breakout success, signing a deal with Sony to form a new business called Palworld Entertainment that’s tasked with expanding the IP.
And in a further sign that Pocketpair remains undeterred in pushing Palword as far is can possibly go, it this week announced a deal with PUBG company Krafton to develop a mobile version of the hit game.
Tweeting the announcement of Palworld’s PS5 launch in Japan, Pocketpair apologized for the delay and promised to “continue to provide exciting and large-scale updates to the PS5 version so that everyone can enjoy the game even more.”
Pocketpair has said it will begrudgingly investigate the patent infringement claims while continuing to update Palworld despite the lawsuit, and apologized to players left concerned about the future of the game.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
