• NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
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    2 months 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?

    • Juniper (she/her) 🫐@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 months 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.

      • RogueAozame@programming.dev
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        2 months 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.

      • Couldbealeotard@lemmy.world
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        2 months 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.

      • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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        2 months ago

        World of Warcraft’s pet capture system was actually very similar to Pokemon, including better traps with better chances of success.

    • Nuke_the_whales@lemmy.world
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      2 months 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

      • Croquette@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months 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.

          • zalgotext@sh.itjust.works
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            2 months ago

            Palworld is an open world survival crafting factory/base building game, that happens to borrow the catching mechanic from Pokemon (who borrowed it from Shin Megami Tensei).

                  • zalgotext@sh.itjust.works
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                    2 months ago

                    K first of all, the mechanic you’re referencing was already an established mechanic before Pokemon Red/Blue came out. The Pokemon Company didn’t invent the “creature catcher” genre of video games.

                    Second of all, as I’ve said already, the catching mechanic in Palworld is absolutely distinct enough to be considered as drawing inspiration from Pokemon, and not copying. If you wanna get into the nitty gritty, I’ll meet you down there, but if you’re just gonna continue to spout meaningless contrarianisms I’ve got better things to do

                    Third of all, “cell shaded anime art style” describes hundreds if not thousands of video games, not just Pokemon games. You can’t realistically claim that Palworld copied Pokemon’s art style* just because it uses a cell-shaded anime style, especially because Pokemon has only used that art direction for the last two generations of games, and the style has been in use long before sword and shield came out.

              • zalgotext@sh.itjust.works
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                2 months ago

                Copying would imply a one to one duplication. The catching system in Palworld differs in multiple ways from the Pokemon system. I think that’s enough to call it borrowing and not copying.

      • chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 months ago

        Lots of games are also called Roguelike. Based off a game called Rogue. The makers of Rogue do not get to sue the makers of Hades.

        Pets that fight for you, including being able to store them for portable carry has been done by many other games, including Ark. In fact, playing Palworld made me compare it more to Ark than Pokemon: base building, automation, catching dinos/animals/monsters of different varieties for different uses. Some can fly, some run, some can be used as parachutes. Some help automate actions at base. There is a tech tree unlocked by leveling, starting with primitive weapons and moving on to guns and higher caliber guns. Blueprints are common in ark for higher quality crafts to build at, you guessed it, crafting benches.

        Collecting wood, stone, metals, etc. Also the animal assistants can help there too, but only certain ones. Also, Ark has cryopods for storing your animals/dinosaurs. You even throw em to release.

        If they had exactly Pikachu or something it’s one thing, but similar games are just part of the business.

        • Nuke_the_whales@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          But we’re not talking about a game type here. You can agree that this is a dumb lawsuit, but you have to be honest. Palworld was marketed online as pokemon with guns. It’s not just a similar style but almost identically copies the characters in Pokemon. You can make a stealth action political thriller video game, but if the main character looks just like solid Snake and is called “Viper”, you gonna get sued.

          • chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            2 months ago

            Really? Why does Deathstroke and Deadpool both exist? One is DC, one is Marvel, and Deadpool pretty much started as an expy. Slade Wilson and Wade Wilson. You’re arguing from a place of what feels like it should be wrong, yet your fake example has been done in the real world and they got away with it.

            This happens so many times in industries they can often just argue parody. In fact, changing a name slightly is classic parody to avoid being sued. Japan in particular often just bleeps out a syllable or forgets a character in the name.

    • Caveman@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Nintendo is making a case that the use of capsules to capture and carry creatures is their IP.

      • CaptPretentious@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Dragon Ball was using capsules to store things long before Pokemon did. And Dragon Ball Z, which ended in Japan in '96 had already done storing 'creatures in capsules. Saibamen for one. And after the Saiyan saga Bulma puts her dead friends in coffin capsules.

        So Akira Toriyama did it before Pokemon.

        • Caveman@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Yeah, they should absolutely argue that storing things, alive or not, in capsules has been used in numerous movies and shows and that the patent is invalid. Big corporations make tons of patents all the time just in case and then see if they hold up in court later, such as Nintendo with their pokeballs in this case. They still don’t know whether Palworld is an infringement or not