Palworld devs confirm game changes due to the Nintendo / Pokemon lawsuit

As we all suspected, recent changes to Palworld game mechanics were as a direct result of the ongoing lawsuit filed against developer Pocketpair from Nintendo / The Pokemon Company.

Their statement posted on X and their official company website reads:

We would like to express our sincere gratitude and appreciation for the continued support of our fans over the past few months. We apologize for not being able to share as much information as we would like, but we trust our fans understand how difficult it is to be fully transparent while litigation is ongoing.

Currently, we remain involved in prolonged legal proceedings regarding alleged patent infringement. We continue to dispute these claims and assert the invalidity of the patents in question. However, we have had to make certain compromises in order to avoid disruptions to the development and distribution of Palworld.

On November 30th, 2024, we released Patch v0.3.11 for Palworld. This patch removed the ability to summon Pals by throwing Pal Spheres and instead changed it to a static summon next to the player. Several other game mechanics were also changed with this patch. As many have speculated, these changes were indeed a result of the ongoing litigation. Everyone here at Pocketpair was disappointed that this adjustment had to be made, and we fully understand that many players feel the same frustration. Unfortunately, as the alternative would have led to an even greater deterioration of the gameplay experience for players, it was determined that this change was necessary.

Furthermore, we regret to inform our players that with the implementation of Patch v0.5.5, we must make yet another compromise. From this patch onward, gliding will be performed using a glider rather than with Pals. Pals in the player's team will still provide passive buffs to gliding, but players will now need to have a glider in their inventory in order to glide.
We 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.

We also want to extend our apologies to our fans for the discomfort and concern this ongoing litigation has caused.
We remain committed to developing Palworld and delivering exciting new content to our fans.

On behalf of everyone at Pocketpair and Team Palworld, thank you again for your continued support.

Regardless of my opinion on Palworld as a game, and how I feel about Nintendo handling this, I think that the whole idea of game mechanics being able to be locked behind a patent so only one company can use it are ridiculous. Just look at the Nemesis system from Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. Such things should simply not be allowed. The system is not fit for purpose.