Danica Davidson
May 8, 2025 
The game Palworld, which some people quickly dubbed “Pokémon with guns,” is currently going through litigation after Nintendo and The Pokémon Company accused it of infringement of intellectual property. Palworld persists in denying any wrongdoing, and it just launched its Patch v0.5.5. Fans quickly noticed changes, and Palworld put a lengthy statement on social media about what it says is going on.
It opened its post thanking fans for their support and apologizing that they can’t say much as litigation is happening. It says it challenges Nintendo’s and The Pokémon Company’s allegations, but has made compromises “in order to avoid disruptions to the development and distribution of Palworld.”
The post continued:
On November 30th, 2024, we released Patch v0.3.11 for Palworld. This patch removed the ability to summon Pals by throwing Pal Spheres and instead changed it to a static summon next to the player. Several other game mechanics were also changed with this patch. As many have speculated, these changes were indeed a result of the ongoing litigation. Everyone here at Pocketpair was disappointed that this adjustment had to be made, and we fully understand that many players feel the same frustration. Unfortunately, as the alternative would have led to an even greater deterioration of the gameplay experience for players, it was determined that this change was necessary.
Furthermore, we regret to inform our players that with the implementation of Patch v0.5.5, we must make yet another compromise. From this patch onward, gliding will be performed using a glider rather than with Pals. Pals in the player’s team will still provide passive buffs to gliding, but players will now need to have a glider in their inventory in order to glide.
We understand that this will be disappointing for many, just as it is for us, but we hope our fans understand that these changes are necessary in order to prevent further disruptions to the development of Palworld.
The post ended with more thanks and apologies.
Palworld comes from Pocketpair, and it premiered in January 2024. Before a whole month had gone by, it had 25 million users. And before the year was out, it had Nintendo and The Pokémon Company, both of which have much more than 25 million users, accusing it of stealing from them.
Nintendo said in an official statement after launching its litigation: “This lawsuit seeks an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds that Palworld, a game developed and released by the Defendant, infringes multiple patent rights. Nintendo will continue to take necessary actions against any infringement of its intellectual property rights including the Nintendo brand itself, to protect the intellectual properties it has worked hard to establish over the years.”
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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