Nintendo has made a surprise update to one of its patents central to the ongoing lawsuit with Pocketpair and their monster-collecting survival game, Palworld, which may give the company the advantage it needs in the case.

Nintendo filed a lawsuit against Pocketpair in 2024, with claims that the Palworld developer had infringed upon three patents. This came as little surprise, given the similarities between Palworld and the Pokémon franchise. Pocketpair responded by updating Palworld, as one of the patent claims involved using items to capture characters in a virtual space.

Nintendo Is Changing Patents as Part of Pocketpair Lawsuit

Mounting a Patent Suit Is Hard

Palworld's Sakurajima Update Trailer.
Palworld's Sakurajima Update Trailer.
Image via Pocketpair

As reported by Games Fray, Nintendo has added a lot of technical language to its patent regarding mounting and riding objects in games, in this case, covering “smooth switching of riding objects”. The language has been made more complicated, likely to expand its range and make it harder for Pocketpair to argue it in court.

Palworld has already received several changes in response to the ongoing patent dispute, one of which switched gliding from using Pals to a Glider. Still, it’s hard to see how the game will be further changed in response to this latest development. It’s possible that the ability to mount Pals could be taken out altogether, all in an effort to protect the game from being taken down.

Will the Changes Help the Lawsuit?

It Will Take More Than That To Kill Palworld

The first Pals players meet in Palworld.
The first Pals you'll meet in Palworld. 
Image via Pocketpair

The changes to the patent will certainly muddy the issue, but Pocketpair’s ability to change Palworld on the fly offers a way past it, especially as the ability to ride creatures isn’t vital to the game. The patent is also so broad that the comparison could be thrown out entirely.

It’s unlikely that Nintendo’s lawsuit will be able to shut down Palworld, especially when the arguments are based on concepts that appear in numerous other games. Nintendo certainly has the money to fight this case indefinitely, but at what point does shutting down Palworld become too costly, especially as the game has faded from the public eye?

Source: Games Fray

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Palworld
Open-World
Shooter
Survival
Systems
Top Critic Avg: 77/100 Critics Rec: 75%
Released
July 10, 2026
ESRB
T For Teen Due To Violence
Developer(s)
Pocket Pair, Inc.
Publisher(s)
Pocket Pair, Inc.
Engine
Unreal Engine 5
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Cross-Platform Play
Xbox Series X|S, pc
Cross Save
yes
Number of Players
1-4 (Co-Op); 32 Players Server Limit
GGMods Mods

Genre(s)
Open-World, Shooter, Survival