Palworld found itself in hot water with Nintendo when the company filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Palworld. Legal proceedings have been going on since September 2024 and Pocketpair are standing strong on their belief that the claims from Nintendo are invalid. With that said, more gameplay changes are being implemented in Palworld with patch v0.5.5 as a direct result of the lawsuit.
In a post from the official Palworld X account, it has been confirmed that Palworld remains involved in ongoing legal proceedings regarding alleged patent infringement of Nintendo’s Pokémon series. Although Palworld continues to dispute the claims made by Nintendo, the game has had to make “compromises in order to avoid disruptions to the development and distribution of Palworld.”
Bring out the gliders
On November 30, 2024, a patch changed various game mechanics, notably removing the ability to summon Pals by throwing Pal Spheres and instead revamped the process to a static summon next to the player. However, more changes are on the way that are a consequence of the ongoing lawsuit. From patch v0.5.5 onward, gliding will be performed using a glider rather than with Pals. Pals in the player’s team will still provide passive buffs while gliding, but players will now need to have a glider in their inventory in order to glide.
Despite being a small change in the grand scheme of things, Pocketpair reiterate that these adjustments are required and “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.“
As the legal battle continues, it seems the team are doing all they can to keep Palworld up and running. Elsewhere in the Palworld universe, a Palworld: More Than Just Pals dating sim is in the works. Surely Nintendo can’t slap a copyright infringement on that game, right?
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