If history can tell us anything about the Palworld patent lawsuit, it's that Nintendo's out for blood

GamesSurvival & CraftingPalworldIf history can tell us anything about the Palworld patent lawsuit, it’s that Nintendo’s out for bloodWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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Big Mario stomping in Super Mario Bros

Earlier this week, Palworld developer Pocketpair found itself in the crosshairs of aNintendo patent lawsuit, making it the latest target in an infamous history of Nintendo legal action. Nintendo hasn’t yet clarified the specifics of its lawsuit claims, but analysts and legal experts have already been offering their takes on how strong its case might be.

Serkan Toto, CEO of Japanese game industry consultant Kantan Games,told GamesRadarthat “Nintendo is going into this lawsuit thinking that they’re going to win. And I fear, looking at the track record, it’s highly likely that they win.” Having explored Nintendo’s litigation history, I don’t know if I’m qualified to speak to its odds—but I’m pretty confident it won’t be pulling any punches.

Writing in the US, it’s difficult to track the specifics of Nintendo’s legal disputes in Japan. Some stories punch through the language barrier, like its2018 lawsuit against mobile game developer Coloplover patent infringements involving virtual joysticks and sleep mode confirmation screens, which ended in a settlement awarding Nintendo ¥3.3 billion—somewhere in the realm of $23 million today.

Otherwise, Japanese patent suit records aren’t readily available overseas, and Nintendo’sJapanese corporate website, where it announced that it was pursuing legal action against Pocketpair, only translates some press releases into English. From Nintendo’s history with American litigation, however, we can see a clear image of a corporation that’s meticulously, overwhelmingly devoted to the protection of its intellectual property.

The best word for Nintendo’s legal strategy might be “vengeful,” and even that could be putting it lightly. As early as the ’80s, Nintendo had no qualms about filing lawsuits as a means of retaliation. In 1989, unable to achieve a ban on videogame rentals, Nintendo found another way to draw blood from rental chains: In Nintendo of America, Inc. v. Blockbuster Entertainment Corp., Nintendosued Blockbuster for photocopying its copyrighted game manualsto include with its rentals, eventuallysettling out of courtfor an undisclosed amount and forcing Blockbuster to distribute unofficial alternatives.

Some, likeSergio Moreno, a former seller of modded Switch hardware who was also ordered to destroy his hacked devices, received court injunctions preventing further copyright or patent infringement. Others, likeROM site operators Jacob and Cristian Mathias, faced fines that—in the Mathias’s case—exceeded $12 million.

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Before Pocketpair earned its ire, Nintendo’s last legal bloodbath began in 2023, when it lashed out at the Switch emulation ecosystem as a kind of divine retribution for the sin of leaking Tears of the Kingdom. OnceTotK started appearing on pirate sitesahead of its official release, Nintendo targetedDMCA takedownsat Github software repos that Switch emulators relied on to decrypt and run game software, pirated or otherwise.

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