close
close

nowplaying family centre

Amid Nintendo’s Pokémon lawsuit, Palworld developer Pocketpair signs a deal for the mobile version

Amid Nintendo’s Pokémon lawsuit, Palworld developer Pocketpair signs a deal for the mobile version

•

Vaseline

Palworld developer Pocketpair has signed a deal with PUBG company Krafton to develop a mobile version of the popular game.

Fresh off the acquisition of Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks from Microsoft, Krafton has now signed a licensing deal with Pocketpair to extend Palworld’s intellectual property to mobile devices, Gematsu reported.

Krafton’s subsidiary PUBG Studios will develop the mobile version of Palworld, which reimagines and adapts key gameplay elements for mobile. No release window was mentioned.

PUBG Studios is the development department behind the phenomenally successful Battle Royale and its equally successful mobile versions. PUBG Mobile has had over a billion players since its launch in March 2018.

The announcement of Palworld Mobile follows Nintendo and The Pokémon Company’s joint lawsuit against Pocketpair for alleged patent infringement, and the subsequent launch of Palworld on PlayStation 5 everywhere except Japan, where the lawsuit was filed.

Pocketpair has insisted it has no idea which patents it is accused of infringing, but experts have pointed to one “killer patent” that revolves around the way Pokémon themselves are caught. Last week, a patent expert said the lawsuit shows “how seriously Nintendo views the Palworld threat.”

Following 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 instead of filing a copyright infringement lawsuit, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company went the patent route.

It is worth noting that Palworld do includes a mechanic where a ball-like object (called a Pal Sphere) is thrown at monsters in a field to capture them, similar to the mechanic seen in the 2022 Nintendo Switch exclusive release Pokémon Legends: Arceusand this could prove to be the key to the lawsuit.

Palworld launched earlier this year on Steam for $30 and directly into Game Pass on Xbox and PC, breaking sales and concurrent player count records. Pocketpair boss Takuro Mizobe has said that Palworld’s launch was so big that the developer couldn’t handle the huge profits the game generated.

Still, Pocketpair acted quickly to capitalize on Palworld’s breakout success. signed a contract with Sony to create a new company called Palworld Entertainment tasked with expanding the IP.

While the Pokémon games are primarily at home on consoles, Nintendo has launched a number of spinoffs aimed at other devices, including mobile. Pokémon GO has seen tremendous success since its launch in 2016, generating billions of dollars in revenue. There’s also Pokémon Unite, a MOBA released for mobile and Nintendo Switch, and Pokémon Sleep, a sleep tracking game that rewards the user with Pokémon depending on the quality of their sleep.

Indeed, a new mobile Pokémon game is just around the corner: Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket, a mobile version of the Pokémon TCG, will launch on October 30, 2024.

Pocketpair has said it will reluctantly investigate the patent infringement claims while continuing to update Palworld despite the lawsuit, and apologized to players concerned about the game’s future.

Wesley is the UK news editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].

•

Recent Posts

Social Media

Advertisement