Oh this makes Nintendo look upper echelon levels of petty. Also, the amount Nintendo is suing them for appears to be just $66,000 lol

Not a good look for someone who is about to release the successor to their console partly known for being indie friendly.

Yeah, this comes off as Nintendo were just caught with their pants down when Palworld was first shown, assuming no one would ever try to use similar mechanics. So now they're just trying to make a statement to all studios that try to use similar mechanics going forward. The fact Nintendo is suing them for just $66,000 rather than millions they typically do when they have a stone cold case, is pretty telling. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: You can't patent an idea, but you can patent the expression of an idea, and that expression can be very specific.

I recommend you all to actually read the patents in question. If you don't want to because it's too long, that'll immediately prove my point. Nintendo's patent files are long because they are extremely specific. This idea that Nintendo is just slapping around vague, non-specific patents is complete bollocks, fuelled by those who don't understand the first thing about patents.

That patent about the ball throwing or creature mounting? It's way more in depth than you may think, and goes over a ton of logic statements to determine specific  things like camera angles, sound effects, animation sequences, when something is or isn't possible, etc. As you can see, all these things are related to the expression, and not the idea itself.

As for the monetary demands, Nintendo doesn't care about PocketPair itself. They are inconsequential in the grand scheme of things (evident by how much Palword itself has already fallen off in the past year). Nintendo's likely goal is to deter Sony and their desperate attempt at regaining relevance in the Japanese market.

Yeah. This was something new I learned recently, that after Palworld took off Sony signed a contract with them for further development of the IP. Actually not unlike Nintendo and GameFreak, as it is Sony Music (!), Aniplex (which is Sony owned) and PocketPair that created Palworld Entertainment to manage the ID. Kinda like Nintendo, Creatures and GameFreak created the Pokemon Company.

https://sony.mediaroom.com/2024-07-10-Sony-Music,-Aniplex,-and-Pocketpair-Announce-Joint-Venture,-Palworld-Entertainment,-Inc-,-to-Expand-the-Breakout-Game,-Palworld

Man, software patents have to die, but this thing has another wrinkle and it seems PocketPair is targeted because they got together with the wrong guys.

Recently watched this. Made for an interesting watch: https://youtu.be/8apzrwv75i0?si=f3oD-b2m9UzZoGY7

I'm sure other indies will be fine so long as they don't engage in plagiarism.