GamesSurvivalPalworld"I think this will end bad for Pocketpair": Analyst says Nintendo’s “feared” legal team wouldn’t sue Palworld unless it was confident of victoryWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesSurvivalPalworld"I think this will end bad for Pocketpair": Analyst says Nintendo’s “feared” legal team wouldn’t sue Palworld unless it was confident of victoryWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Pocketpair)
Nintendo wouldn’t sue Palworld unless it was pretty sure it could win a hefty chunk of the survival game’s “hundreds of millions” of revenue, says one industry analyst who knows just how scary the Nintendo legal team is.
Speaking to GamesRadar+ aboutNintendo’s Palworld lawsuit, analyst Serkan Toto points out that “Nintendo is famously protective of its IP, and they have a very, very strong legal team that is feared in the Japanese gaming industry. You don’t want to make Nintendo angry.” That team’s strength is part of why it’s taken so long for this lawsuit to rear its head. It’s been seven months sincePalworldlaunched, and Toto posits that in that time, “Nintendo wanted to be absolutely thorough. They didn’t want to shoot from the hip.”
“[They wanted to] make absolutely sure that everything is mapped out, that they have counter-arguments against anything that Pocketpair will say in court, and only if they are able to build a really strong case where they think they are going to win, they will file the lawsuit. And I think that Nintendo is going into this lawsuit thinking that they’re going to win. And I fear, looking at the track record, it’s highly likely that they win.”
Toto claims he “cannot really remember a single lawsuit that Nintendo itself initiated in Japan that they lost. I think they won every single one of them.” While there’s a first time for everything, he also thinks that “this will end bad for Pocketpair,” and that Nintendo will be coming for as much money as possible from the company.
That could be a fee in the tens of millions of dollars, if not more. In 2021, Nintendo settled a similar patent lawsuit with mobile developer Colopl that netted it ¥3 billion (around $21 million). Until we know more about which patents Nintendo is chasing (and how many of them), we’re unlikely to get any sense of how this might play out, but Toto thinks Pocketpair will look to settle (though the company has pledged to take on the lawsuit). That would involve handing over a chunk of what the analyst thinks amounts to “hundreds of millions of dollars, easily.” Palworld’s massive sales and its limited development costs linked to low Japanese salaries and the game’s limited graphical fidelity mean that Pocketpair is sitting on a mountain of cashthat it’s not been planning to use for massive expansion projects.
While Toto believes Nintendo’s certain of victory,other experts think “Nintendo may be reaching” in its Palworld lawsuit.
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1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
1
Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
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2
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3Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure”
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4Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years”
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1Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review: “Keanu Reeves as Shadow is wasted whilst Jim Carrey steals the show”
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2Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie”
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3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action”
3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action”
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4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
4
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5Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite”
5Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite”
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2Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: “Ncuti Gatwa is as magnetic as ever in this delightful festive treat”
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2
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3Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses”
3Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses”
3
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5Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”
5
Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”