Nintendo’s full of surprises. Just recently there was the announcement of the Super Mario Galaxy Movie and the bizarre decision to revive the company’s biggest ever flop in the upcoming Virtual Boy for Nintendo Switch. And then there’s the matter of controversial new Nintendo patents that appear to grant the company ownership over entire game mechanics.
Approved by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) this month, the so-called ‘Pokémon Patents’ have sparked huge concern in the gaming sector because of their apparent breadth. Will they be ignored, or could they create a chilling effect on indie game developers?
What is the Nintendo patent controversy?
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(Image credit: Nintendo)(Image credit: Nintendo)(Image credit: Nintendo)
Nintendo and the Pokémon Company have been granted patents giving them ownership over certain in-game mechanics. While they were filed in 2023 and 2024, they were granted this month.
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Patent No. 12,403,297 covers a mechanic in which players can summon a “sub character,” for example a Pokémon, pet, or ally, which will fight when told to do so if it appears near an enemy. The sub character automatically moves to find an enemy, and battles can run on autopilot after the sub character has been sent in a direction.
Patent 12,409,387 covers mechanics for mounting and riding objects over a terrain other than the ground.
According to the documents, the patents cover games on a device with storage (so basically any any console or PC) in a game in which a player character can be moved around a virtual world.
The patents have direct relevance to an ongoing lawsuit against Palworld, against Pocketpair’s Palworld, which Nintendo accuses of copying some of its designs and concepts.
However, developers are concerned that they grant Nintendo vast ownership over gameplay that has long been established in other games like Elden Ring, Final Fantasy and Digimon as well as Palworld, and there are fears that the lawsuit against Pocketpair could just be the start of a plan for further legal action against competition.
There are concerns that the fear of legal action could threaten future creature collection games, preventing developers from using the patented concepts and methods.
How dangerous are the so-called Pokémon patents? Some argue that they contain technicalities that suggest the intention was to protect the specific system in Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
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“Nintendo got a patent for a very specific method of handling (Pokémon) summoning. It has a conditional branch at summoning with auto/manual modes while staying in a persistent field system and being able to direct movements or chain fights within a consistent state machine. Aka the EXACT method of how Pokémon Legends: Arceus, they felt it was unique,” one person argues on X.
Speaking with Eurogamer, Don McGowan, former Chief Legal Officer for The Pokémon Company, claims that the patents will be mainly ignored and that they wouldn’t hold up in court because there are so many games that predate the patent that could be used as evidence of prior art.
Palworld’s maker is already doing just that. In its defence, it’s cited a list of 25 titles that is says already used similar mechanics, including Monster Hunter 4G, The Legend of Zelda. ARK, Craftopia and Final Fantasy XIV.
However, others fear that the Nintendo patents could be used in bad faith. As quoted by PC Gamer, games industry lawyer Richard Hoeg fears their existence could dissuade developers from implementing a mechanic. Florian Müller, an intellectual property activist cited by Games Fray, agrees, saying the biggest concern is the legal uncertainty due to the vagueness of patents.
He fears this will be most felt by indie developers that don’t have the resources to defend themselves from legal challenges and may prefer to redesign a game mechanic over the threat of legal action.
What do you think? Are the new Nintendo patents too broad?
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