Nintendo Argues Game Mods Aren’t “Prior Art” In Palworld Lawsuit

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Nintendo is escalating its legal fight with Palworld’s developer, Pocketpair. In its lawsuit, Nintendo argues that modifications created by players shouldn’t be considered existing technology that would invalidate their claims.

Pocketpair, the developers of Palworld, had previously stated that mods like ‘Pocket Souls’ (a Dark Souls 3 Pokemon mod) challenged Nintendo’s patents. However, according to Games Fray (via IGN), Nintendo now argues in the current lawsuit that user-created modifications don’t count as ‘prior art’ because they rely on the game itself to work.

Nintendo is concerned that allowing modifications (mods) to their games could open the door to patent issues. They worry someone could patent ideas from those mods, and then others – including Nintendo – could be accused of copying them. As IGN pointed out on September 19th, this is a big issue for the gaming industry because someone could potentially build a whole game using just modified content from other games.

However, Nintendo’s so-called new ideas aren’t actually original. The Pokémon franchise has existed for a long time, and as Games Fray pointed out, even the patents Nintendo filed in 2021 covered concepts that already existed.

Pocketpair claims Palworld and Pokemon are very different games. While both involve collecting creatures in balls and start with the letter ‘p’, Palworld is an open-world action game, unlike the more traditional turn-based gameplay of Pokemon. Pocketpair seems puzzled by the recent lawsuit, likely because they maintain Palworld isn’t just a modified version of Pokemon, despite the similarities.

Palworld is out now on PC, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

The next Pokémon games announced are Legends: Z-A and Pokopia. Legends: Z-A continues the style of the Pokémon Legends games and will be released on October 16th. Pokopia is a life simulation game, similar to Animal Crossing, and is planned for release sometime next year. Both games will be playable on both the original Nintendo Switch and the new Nintendo Switch 2.

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2025-09-19 19:10