Games

GTA 5 Mod Could Help Palworld With Its Nintendo Lawsuits

Published

2 weeks ago

November 21, 2024

Christoph Rediske

Key Takeaways

A GTA 5 mod may assist Palworld in combating Nintendo’s lawsuits over patent infringement.
Nintendo is targeting Palworld for alleged patent violations related to catching, aiming, and riding mechanics.
The success of Palworld may be impacted by the outcome of the lawsuits seeking 10 million yen and an injunction in Japan.

Palworld may have a Grand Theft Auto 5 modder to thank, as their mod could end up helping Palworld to fight Nintendo’s lawsuits. The surprising bit of Palworld-related information comes from an attorney that’s well-versed in Japanese patent law.

Palworld made huge waves when it entered the gaming scene, with many fans flocking to the title to try the unique experience which was often dubbed “Pokemon with guns.” While many felt that there were similarities between Palworld and Pokemon, particularly with designs and game mechanics, The Pokemon Company and Nintendo remained fairly quiet about the game until recently. Now, Palworld is facing lawsuits from Nintendo based around three unique patents.

Why The Game Awards ‘Snubbing’ Palworld Actually Makes Sense

Palworld is not being considered for any Game Awards despite its smashing success, but this absence shouldn’t be controversial.

One of the patents that Palworld is being sued over has to due with the catching mechanics present in the game. Players catch Pals by using Pal Spheres, which are thrown at the target and capture them. The mechanic allegedly infringes upon Nintendo’s “killer” Patent No. 7545191, which covers the act of throwing a capture item; in this case, the Pal Sphere, or a Poke Ball. However, according to Nikkei Business (via Automaton), Japanese patent attorney Ryo Arashida has said that a game mod that preceded Palworld by eight years uses a similar mechanic, and thus may render the Nintendo patent invalid.

Has a GTA 5 Mod Saved Palworld?

While not named outright, the timing of the mod’s release and its description indicates that it’s most likely a Pokemon GO-themed GTA 5 mod that came out way back in 2016. Most notably, the current 7545191 patent Nintendo is using in its lawsuit is tied to a “parent patent” that was registered in 2021. In other words, the mod precedes both patents, potentially making the legal challenge against Palworld moot.

However, the aforementioned patent is only one of Palworld‘s problems. Nintendo has also challenged Palworld with its patents 7493117 and 7528390. The 7493117 patent is tied into aiming in the game, while 7528390 focuses on riding characters. At this time, it’s not clear if there are similar cases that could end up helping Palworld with these two patents.

What ends up happening to Palworld remains to be seen. The lawsuits are seeking a total of 10 million yen, or roughly $65,000 USD, plus late payment damages, from Pocketpair. While it might sting, this number would hardly mean the end of the game developer on its own. However, Nintendo also wants an injunction that would mean Palworld could no longer be sold in Japan. That could have a much bigger impact on the game and the company, though if it only affected the Japanese market, Pocketpair could probably still recover.

In this game, you can peacefully live alongside mysterious creatures known as Pals or risk your life to drive off a ruthless poaching syndicate. Pals can be used to fight and breed, or they can be made to work on farms or factories. You can even sell them or eat them.
Survival: In a harsh environment where food is scarce and vicious poachers roam, danger waits around every corner. To survive, you must tread carefully and make difficult choices…even if that means eating your own Pals when the time comes.
Mounts & Exploration: Pals can be mounted to traverse the land, sea and sky—allowing you to traverse all kinds of environment as you explore the world.
Collect all kinds of exciting Pals to fight, farm, build, and work for you in this completely new multiplayer, open world survival and crafting game!

Open-World

Shooter

Survival