• @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    54 hours ago

    Are the SMT games not on Nintendo’s radar? Like, does Id get to sue anyone who makes a FPS?

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      84 hours ago

      Its hard to sue shin megami tensei when megami tensei came out first. Also Nintendo is apparently sueing for patent infringment and im curious which patent they are suing for cause most of the og patents should be expired by now. The best guess I’ve seen is maybe patent related to either legends game.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    138 hours ago

    Congrats Nintendo, I’m done with you. SNES, Gameboy, N64, GameCube, Wii, Switch, and now done for good. Cantankerous old dinosaur of a company that has lost touch with the world.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    2712 hours ago

    Bad move by Nintendo. This game was on track to be forgotten. Pocketpair forgot about it months ago, but the players were starting to catch on to that. Now there will be a resurgence of interest.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      35
      edit-2
      5 hours ago

      This game was on track to be forgotten

      Game is just outside the top 50 on steam and had a major content release at the end of June. This ‘game is dying’-because-it-didn’t-indefinitely-sustain-player-counts-in-the-top-10 meme is dumb as hell.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        31 hour ago

        It’s a pocketpair thing though as far as “abandoning” a game. As a craftopia player I know all too well how they start off and then drag their feet with minimal input after a certain time. It’s one thing I was worried about with palworld before it even came out. :/

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        13 hours ago

        Well statistically speaking like only 1% of their peak player count at launch was still playing the game.

        It doesn’t do bad on the top ranking out of all games on Steam, but it didn’t do great anymore either.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      25
      edit-2
      11 hours ago

      Nah all that gamer malice will be dropped at the tip of a hat with a Switch 2 announcement sadly. Pocketpair will be bled of money into bankruptcy and Nintendo will win.

      It is morally right to pirate Nintendo games.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        99 hours ago

        Sony is a shareholder and Microsoft has also supportted PocketPair, it will be interesting to see how that works out with Nintendo.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    11515 hours ago

    Anybody who’s played palworld knows the game is nothing like pokemon. What’s next, are they going to claim they are the only company who can make games with 4 legged animals?

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      53 hours ago

      I played it and I felt like it borrowed a lot of elements from Pokemon. It wasn’t Pokemon, but you can’t deny it took like 90% of their inspiration from Pokemon and then added guns to it.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      74 hours ago

      I don’t understand. Everyone, literally EVERYONE was calling this game pokemon with guns when it released, so why are people mad that the makers of pokemon are suing? We all saw it from the start

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        153 minutes ago

        Just because it has a resemblance to pokemon doesn’t make it pokemon. The gameplay is completely different.

      • @Croquette
        link
        English
        264 hours ago

        The comparison is valid, but doesn’t mean it infringes on any patent.

        Otherwise, FromSoftware would sue the shit out of every soulslike out there.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        2
        edit-2
        3 hours ago

        I think it’s understandable why they sue them (I doubt it holds up in court though), it’s just horrible business practice because Nintendo is too lazy to actually innovate and do something creative for a change, instead of sitting on franchises like that and do fuck all with it, only releasing repetitive piss-poor games based on the exact same concept they invented like 30+ years ago.

        The problem is people will still buy Pokemon, even if they’re absolute garbage games. So Nintendo won’t change it either.

    • Juniper (she/her) 🫐
      link
      fedilink
      English
      3711 hours ago

      They said patent violations, not copyright, so it is about some sort of mechanic or system and not the pals or any specific designs. I’m guessing the thrown ball capture system, since it seems no other developers have published anything using that specifically.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        54 hours ago

        They shouldnt be able to sue for that cause a patent only lasts for 20 years in Japan. I saw some guesses that there might be a patent for one of their legends games that they are suing for.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        3
        edit-2
        2 hours ago

        World of Final Fantasy is as close to a Pokemon rip off as you can get, and they didn’t get sued.

        Edit. And now I think about it, the mobile game of Rick and Morty was very much a reskin of Pokemon.

  • CALIGVLA
    link
    fedilink
    English
    11215 hours ago

    Took them a while. But like clockwork, Nintendo never misses a chance to be the villains.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      64
      edit-2
      13 hours ago

      They had to wait for PalWorld to sell a lot and make a lot of money so they can financially ruin these people instead of just telling them “don’t do that.”

      Literal Comic-Book Villain behavior.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        2
        edit-2
        1 hour ago

        They had to wait for PalWorld to sell a lot and make a lot of money so they can financially ruin these people instead of just telling them “don’t do that." make themselves a lot of money by doing nothing but make a lawsuit to steal their earnings."

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      11
      edit-2
      12 hours ago

      Doesn’t matter to them, when millions line up to see the next wacky thing Mario is up to, for the 55th time

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    1311 hours ago

    Stop buying Nintendo. They can’t create quality new IP’s, just rehashes over and over, at this point she ain’t got a peach, bowser mashed it into a pie, and Mario’s eating it for breakfast, lunch, an after dinner snack.

    • Dizzy Devil Ducky
      link
      fedilink
      English
      25 hours ago

      The problem is they’re such a large and recognizable company that they could probably switch to making and selling malware and everyone would still buy it without thinking twice. Humanity is full of idiots.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      82
      edit-2
      15 hours ago

      Half of those patents read like if they use vague enough language they can justify patenting how computers work.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      3414 hours ago

      How can they let companies file such broad, vague patents for mechanics that have existed since forever? For example, 20240286040, is just what flying mounts have done in WoW since 2007 or even the flying cap in Mario 64 ffs. There are probably other earlier examples, but it goes to show that it’s just noise to monopolize innovation and scare other devs.

      • bobaFeet
        link
        fedilink
        English
        59 hours ago

        Long story short, the claims get much longer and restrictive through the application process. The example you asked about is currently undergoing a non-final rejection, and the claims will get much more restrictive in further iterations (assuming that the application has actual merit somewhere in the original dependent claims)

        You can check the application history here: Global Dossier

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        5214 hours ago

        Nintendo patents video game inventory system.

        Not the onion.

        (Not a patent lawyer, and I’m sure it’s more complicated than that, but come on)

      • Shadow
        link
        fedilink
        English
        20
        edit-2
        15 hours ago

        Is that the wrong link? This seems totally unrelated to Pokemon in boxes, and is more about multi console character storage systems. This patent just sounds like someone described steam cloud saves in way too many big words.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          713 hours ago

          In the “other references” they link to the bulbapedia article for Pokemon box so I figured thats what the whole thing was about, but yeah it does read like accessing data on a server

    • Juniper (she/her) 🫐
      link
      fedilink
      English
      4
      edit-2
      2 hours ago

      Since this was filed in Japan, it would have to be patents Nintendo own in Japan that are infringed and those don’t necessarily perfectly match those in the US

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        310 hours ago

        Those are just abstract if I’m not mistaken. There should be more detailed specifications.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        9
        edit-2
        14 hours ago

        Well, it makes me think that AI training was probably biased towards legal drivel like this, since it’s public facing, professional and likely even translated in multiple languages.

        The student got so good that people think the teacher is imitating it.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    17
    edit-2
    13 hours ago

    Since this is over patent and not copyright, wouldn’t this have to be about patents filed after the year 2003 and before 2024? AFAIK, patents don’t get extended and cannot be re-filed, and Pokemon has existed since the 1990s, where a lot of its patents would have been created. Unless for some reason Nintendo delayed filing the patents for more than 5-10 years but I don’t know that patents are allowed to have such a time gap between publication and filing or not. Perhaps Japan has different patent laws, their laws notoriously favor businesses so I wouldn’t be surprised.

    Additionally, at least in the USA, some things like gameplay elements cannot be patented if they are necessary for the genre of the product. For example, a first person camera, guns, shooting, etc. are not elements that can be patented as they are necessary for FPS games in general, but some kind of specific new technology like the way Doom draws its 3D world could be patented.

    For a Creature Catcher game like PalWorld, devices (very vague and generic term that legally should not be patentable because it is too generic BTW) to catch, store, and deploy creatures is necessary to the genre. Unless it is specifically code or the same exact way that both PalWorld and PokeMon function, I do not see how Nintendo thinks they can win other than by bankrupting their opposition like usual.

    Really hope this one turns out like Lewis Galoob Toys Inc v Nintendo of America, but the Japan version.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      1914 hours ago

      Wait until they make all the money that was to be made on their game.

      Then yoink all of that money.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        11 hour ago

        That and it also would have been a lot more bad press for Nintendo had they taken action when the game was first popular

        Not that Nintendo’s legal team has ever had an issue with bad press

    • Shadow
      link
      fedilink
      English
      4815 hours ago

      Gotta wait until palworld has made a bucket of money for Nintendo to point at, claim damages, then try to take.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      1115 hours ago

      It’s kinda surprising they didn’t sue over the much less legally grey IP infringements.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        24
        edit-2
        15 hours ago

        Nintendo: Can we sue them over the designs?

        Lawyer: Not really, this shit is impossible to prove

        Lawyer: But we can sue them anyway

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          913 hours ago

          Nintendo: Can we sue them over the designs?

          Lawyer: Not really, this shit is impossible to prove

          starts closing the money briefcase

          Lawyer: But we can sue them anyway

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        1615 hours ago

        Similar visual design happens all the time in Japanese media and there’s rarely litigation over it. Patent lawsuits are much more common in Japan.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          10
          edit-2
          15 hours ago

          I don’t know if that’s true, but most of those patents are incredibly iffy, they seem to describe basic functions of how videogames have worked since WoW.

          They seem to have tried patenting having a player character that can walk, drive, and fly in a videogame on May 2, 2024.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            1314 hours ago

            It has to do with how the statute is written (I used to do comparative international IP policy research and analysis). Japanese works are given fairly wide latitude in creative sectors based on artistic intent. For example, you’ll see knockoff brands all the time in anime or manga, but the intent is clearly world building (or parody), not appropriation for promotional use. That artistic intent standard is used in the courts. This is why all the side-by-side comparisons people here probably saw on Twitter when Palworld came out was more of an ethnocentric American approach. Plus, copyright infringement is frequently incidental and not the result of large investment (unlike patents), so, in a country that prefers to handle domestic disputes informally, these incidents are less likely to go to court.

            As a country that more recently entered the world stage based on manufacturing, patent protection is simply going to be taken more seriously as part of the culture. And yes–while I don’t have numbers–patent litigation does seem to get thrown out often when it comes to video games, at least the high-profile stuff, anyway. Here’s an example between Koei Tecmo and Capcom since I was already on Variety.