Asmongold explains why he wants Nintendo to lose the Palworld lawsuit

With the legal battle between Palworld developers Pocketpair and Nintendo raging, many are starting to take sides. Top streamer Asmongold has made his decision: he wants Nintendo to lose.

During a stream this week, Asmongold discussed the details of Nintendo’s lawsuit against Pocketpair, with the former seeking an injunction and “compensation for damages” caused by Palworld and the alleged infringement of “multiple patent rights.” He focused on the patents Nintendo had filed surrounding monster capture in games, suggesting that these patents were created specifically to Palworld. Asmongold believes this strategy is dishonest at best and deliberately devious at worst.

Asmongold slammed Nintendo, saying that if it wins the case, “more game mechanics will be patented” and “less innovation will occur.” He centered his frustration around the idea that companies like Nintendo are ruining gaming because they’re not just trying to claim ownership over their systems, they want to own concepts. With the patents in hand, it’s easy to understand these concerns.

Automaton’s translation and analysis of an article by Japanese patent attorney Kiyoshi Kurihara suggested that these recent patents would be used to demonstrate infringement of Poketpair’s patent. The diagram and explanation for the patent and its accompanying documents described the process of using a “target direction” in a “virtual space” and launching an object to affect a “field character.” As Asmongold indicated in his stream, this could be just about anything, such as throwing a grenade at an enemy.

Automaton’s explanation stated “aiming a capture item at a character placed on the field” and then “releasing the capture item in a direction determined by player input.” While this was more specific, it may not change how it all came across to Asmongold and his viewers. The design and subsequent explanation for the patent seemed blatantly generic, and the patent itself seemed especially devious.

Part of the reason Asmongold thinks Nintendo is intimidating Pocketpair is because these documents appear to be motivated by Palworld‘s arrival. Palworld was first announced on June 5, 2021; Nintendo first filed its parent patent for these mechanics in December of that year. Following this process, the patent Asmongold was reading about was filed on May 2, 2024, months after Palworld was released – and the latest application was for patent no. 7545191, filed on July 30, 2024.

Based on the timeline given, it’s easy to conclude that this case played out exactly as it seems: Nintendo saw the success of Pocketpair and decided to file a lawsuit to get rid of the threat that Palworld introduces himself Pokémon. Commentators have pointed out that “any judge with half a brain would tell Nintendo to fuck off,” but it may not be that simple. Others suggest that patent law works on a first-come, first-served basis. Whether another game predates the legal filing may not be relevant.

It is still unclear who will win this lawsuit, but many people support Pocketpair so that other games also get a chance.