Japan games industry analyst explains why Nintendo is going after Palworld, and why it’s probably going to win.

So you don’t think these patents are going after any aspect of Palworld that players would recognize as a defining feature of a Pokémon game?

I mean, there’s like a mechanic where you throw the spheres, right? And this is a very obvious, in your face system [that’s very much like Pokémon]. But I think that it will be a lot more technical than this. Nintendo would have dug through every single action inside the game, they would have probably reverse engineered it, and just find ways to sue these guys.

You can bet your life that Nintendo hates this company, and they couldn’t find an angle with the character designs. This is why they are not mentioned in their press release. So they come with these technical peculiarities. So I personally believe, if you act like this, you can sue like 90 percent of the game developers in the world. I’m sure there’s like thousands of games that have a confirmation screen when you go from sleep mode to resuming the game right, but if you basically trigger the wrath of Nintendo, they will come after you.

  • rbitsEnglish
    63·
    2 months ago

    What? Instead of them acting bad and overprotective about their games, you’d rather the games didn’t exist at all? That doesn’t make sense. There are problems with the company, but they still make good games. It’s not like they mistreat their employees or anything (as far as I’m aware).

    Question: What happens if they do disappear like you want? Nintendo fans stop getting the games they like… and how does this benefit everyone else?

    Also saying someone deserves to be scammed because they are uninformed is weird. Some people just don’t read gaming discourse and reviews, they’re not obligated to. And some people actually like the games despite their flaws, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve a better game.

    • ASDraptor@lemmy.autism.placeEnglish
      101·
      2 months ago

      First, they are not overprotective with their games. They are suing for patent infringement over bullshit because in Japan they own patents for things as stupid as “riding a creature in a game”. And this is what’s happening here. They are hampering progress because they want to be the only one in the monster catching genre. They can vigorously fuck off.

      If Nintendo disappears, someone else will come. So many companies died and nothing happened. It’s a videogame, they’re not making life-saving devices.

      If someone buys a Pokémon game now they are rarely uninformed, they are rewarding a company for their shitty behaviour. It’s not the first Pokémon and it’s not the first time Nintendo acts shitty. But their fanatics will keep defending the company no matter what. At that point, what else can you expect? It’s like buying an EA game and then crying because it’s full of micro transactions and useless dlcs, etc.

      Also, yeah, if you’re uninformed and get scammed over stuff that’s been happening for years, it’s all on you. Fool me once and all that.

      • rbitsEnglish
        31·
        2 months ago

        I agree that they can fuck off with the patent thing. I’m not trying to defend their actions. Also yeah, if someone buys a pokemon game after not liking the previous one, then cries about it being bad, that’s on them. But not all of them have played one of the bad ones before. Although I guess if you don’t research before you buy, you can’t be too surprised. Also you have to keep in mind that the people complaining about the pokemon games online aren’t the majority of the people buying it. Most people buying them just want a pokemon game and don’t care too much about it’s quality as long as it still has what they like. Although that doesn’t excuse all the bugs and stuff.

        But with Nintendo disappearing, how does that benefit anyone? If you don’t like Nintendo games, you can already just not play them. People buying them buy them because they like them. Them disappearing doesn’t help people who do like Nintendo games, and it doesn’t help people who don’t like Nintendo games.

        • ASDraptor@lemmy.autism.placeEnglish
          8·
          2 months ago

          But with Nintendo disappearing, how does that benefit anyone? If you don’t like Nintendo games, you can already just not play them. People buying them buy them because they like them. Them disappearing doesn’t help people who do like Nintendo games, and it doesn’t help people who don’t like Nintendo games.

          They have killed tons of fan games just because they have enough money to throw at lawyers so people won’t even try to fight them.

          They kill competition with these practices.

          They are against emulation and game conservation while actively screwing consumers who try to legally play their games…

          And the list goes on and on. They are a bad company that happens to make some good games. Those few good games are not enough to redeem them for the rest of what they do.

          Edit: typo

          • rbitsEnglish
            22·
            2 months ago

            Emulation still exists though. And the fan games are made by and for Nintendo fans. They usually also want to play the new Nintendo games as well, not just the fan games. And those fan games wouldn’t exist without the Nintendo games they’re inspired by. I mean, I guess if you only play old Nintendo games or fan games based on them, Nintendo disappearing could be good. But I would bet that there are many more people who want to play Nintendo’s new games, and will want to play the ones that are released in the future, than people who only want to play old ones/fan games.

            Edit: Also

            They kill competition with these practices.

            So there should instead be 1 less company in the console space? That will increase competition?

            • ASDraptor@lemmy.autism.placeEnglish
              4·
              2 months ago

              Emulation exists despite Nintendo trying their best at every chance they have to destroy it. Not thanks to them.

              And fan games exist only until Nintendo decides they have to be shut down. Which is frequently.

              For the Nintendo future games? Well, what can I say? Again, it’s a video game company. And as Palworld and others are showing, many others can do what Nintendo does in better ways. We won’t have another mario if they close? There will be someone making a new platformer as good. There won’t be a new Pokemon? We already have better alternatives.

              But if they disappear, games like Palworld will have a chance without having to risk being sued over all this crap.

              Edit: Nintendo is the one hoarding these patents that then they can weaponize against competition, so yeah, if they disappear, competition will get better because they won’t have to be worried about being sued for things as dumb as putting a confirmation window after resuming a game from sleep.

        • Gadg8eer@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          5·
          2 months ago

          Because if they kill Palworld, that proves they are willing to cross that line and deserve to be destroyed, and they very clearly WANT to destroy Palworld.