• @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    35
    edit-2
    4 days ago

    The “update” is from a month ago. Pocketpair shared the patents they are accused of infringing and the payments Nintendo wants.

    The patents are for “throwing an object in 3D space to capture a target” (throwing a pokeball) and “moving characters to a virtual field when an event is triggered” (entering a battle) the payment requested is 10 million yen or 64,000 USD. A paltry sum for a billion dollar company suing over a game that made tens of millions.

    The patents were awarded to Nintendo after Palword had already released a trailer for their game showing gameplay. Pocketpair also released an earlier game called Craftopia which is Palworld but the pals are just straight up animals. It has the same systems Palworld does but didn’t sell very well.

    A newer update is that Palworld has since released a patch that modified how their capture and summon system works, likely in an attempt to make Nintendo happy.

    Palworld Update v0.3.11 Notes:

    Player: Changed the behaviour of summoning player-owned Pals so that they are always summoned near the player

    UI: The reticle will now only be displayed when aiming

    Edit: there are actually 3 patents. The third one is for the player character being able to ride on another character.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      404 days ago

      “moving characters to a virtual field when an event is triggered” (entering a battle)

      How is that a legit patent, when there are so many obvious instances of prior art?

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        464 days ago

        Even if there weren’t a million examples of prior art, the fact that patents on game mechanics are even allowed is just awful for the industry as a whole, and we as players should absolutely rail against this. Every game borrows from other games’ ideas and mechanics - I’d bet money that there hasn’t been a single fully “original” game in 20+ years. If companies are allowed to patent every little mechanic (even ones they didn’t come up with), the industry as a whole will just become impossible to operate in.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          124 days ago

          Every game borrows from other games’ ideas and mechanics

          It’s not only games, this is just straight-up how art works. Culture develops over time. Of course capitalism had to get a middleman in there lol

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          104 days ago

          the fact that patents on game mechanics are even allowed is just awful for the industry as a whole

          Yes, definetly.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        144 days ago

        It’s a Japanese patent. I’m not sure how it would hold up internationally, but Pocketpair is also a Japanese company and this lawsuit is entirely within the Japanese legal system. That probably gives Nintendo a bit of an advantage since they’re such a large and iconic Japanese corporation.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          184 days ago

          Copyright is already cooked, no matter where it’s located. But the way japan acts as if Pokemon invented JRPG battles is simply ridiculous.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            14 days ago

            the way japan acts as if Pokemon invented JRPG battles is simply ridiculous.

            Am I missing some bit of context? Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy still exist (and came first).

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              44 days ago

              That’s what I meant with “prior art”. Nintendo’s second patent basically explains how any old JRPG worked.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      304 days ago

      So…Red Dead Redemption infringes two of these three patents?

      • Throwing an object (lasso) to capture a target
      • Player character being able to ride on another character (horse)

      Is Nintendo afraid because Rockstar can actually afford the lawsuit?