In the wake of legal pressures from Nintendo and The Pokémon Company, Palworld modders are stepping up to reinstate game mechanics that developer Pocketpair was forced to remove. Pocketpair recently acknowledged that modifications in their latest patches were necessitated by an ongoing patent lawsuit filed by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company.
Palworld made a splash upon its release in early 2024, hitting Steam with a $30 price tag and immediately becoming available on Xbox and PC through Game Pass. The game shattered sales records and amassed a significant player base, overwhelming Pocketpair with its success. CEO Takuro Mizobe noted that the game's profits were so substantial that the company struggled to manage them. In response to the game's success, Pocketpair swiftly moved to expand its reach by partnering with Sony to create Palworld Entertainment, aimed at broadening the game's IP. The game was later released on PS5.
The launch of Palworld sparked debates over similarities between its creatures, called Pals, and Pokémon, leading to accusations of design plagiarism. Instead of pursuing a copyright infringement lawsuit, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company opted for a patent infringement case, seeking 5 million yen (approximately $32,846) each, plus additional damages and an injunction to halt Palworld's release.
Pocketpair confirmed in November that they were facing legal action over three Japan-based patents related to capturing Pokémon in a virtual environment. Palworld originally featured a mechanic where players could capture creatures using a Pal Sphere, similar to the capturing method in Pokémon Legends: Arceus. However, Pocketpair admitted that the changes introduced in Patch v0.3.11 in November 2024 were a direct result of these legal threats. This patch altered the summoning method from throwing Pal Spheres to a static summon beside the player, alongside other gameplay modifications.
Pocketpair stated that failure to implement these changes would have further degraded the gameplay experience. Additionally, Patch v0.5.5, released last week, changed how gliding is executed in the game, requiring players to use a glider instead of their Pals, though Pals still offer passive gliding buffs.
Describing these alterations as "compromises," Pocketpair highlighted their necessity to prevent an injunction that could stop the development and sale of Palworld. In response, modders have quickly moved to restore the original gliding mechanic. The Glider Restoration mod by Primarinabee, available on Nexus Mods, effectively reverses the changes from Patch v0.5.5. The mod, released on May 10, has already seen hundreds of downloads.
While there is a mod that partially restores the throw-to-release mechanic, it does not include the original ball-throwing animation. The availability of these mods raises questions about their longevity amid the ongoing lawsuit.
At the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in March, IGN interviewed John "Bucky" Buckley, Pocketpair's communications director and publishing manager. Following Buckley's talk titled 'Community Management Summit: A Palworld Roller Coaster: Surviving the Drop,' he discussed various challenges faced by Palworld, including debunked accusations of using generative AI and stealing Pokémon models. Buckley also touched on the unexpected nature of the patent infringement lawsuit from Nintendo, expressing that it "came as a shock" to the studio.
