Pocketpair has made a ‘disappointing’ announcement to their Palworld players.
They shared this message on their Twitter:
We would like to express our sincere gratitude and appreciation for the continued support of our fans over the past few months. We apologize for not being able to share as much information as we would like, but we trust our fans understand how difficult it is to be fully transparent while litigation is ongoing.
Currently, we remain involved in prolonged legal proceedings regarding alleged patent infringement. We continue to dispute these claims and assert the invalidity of the patents in question. However, we have had to make certain compromises in order to avoid disruptions to the development and distribution of Palworld.
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.
We also want to extend our apologies to our fans for the discomfort and concern this ongoing litigation has caused. We remain committed to developing Palworld and delivering exciting new content to our fans.
On behalf of everyone at Pocketpair and Team Palworld, thank you again for your continued support.
Pocketpair was sued in Japan for Palworld by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company last September 2024. As they revealed a few months later, they were being sued for patent infringement in relation to monster catching patents. While there’s been a lot of speculation surrounding this case since, we haven’t had any updated when it comes to court decisions in relation to this case.
While Palworld launched to unprecedented levels of success as a Steam Early Access game, it would be fair to say that gamers have widely moved on to other new live service games like Marvel Rivals, as well as the slate of big-name AAAs that have released since. This year alone is high on promise from Microsoft Gaming’s big releases, and the launch of Nintendo’s Switch 2.
We don’t think gamers who supported Palworld when the lawsuit was announced have turned on them on a dime. Rather, most of them have lost interest, and it’s their most loyal players and whales who are still paying attention. It’s those loyalists who Pocketpair will have to rely on for support, as Nintendo and The Pokémon Company don’t seem to be interested in a quick settlement. Even if the two parties eventually agree to settle, Pocketpair seems to be on the hook for the courts for the next coming months, if not years.
