Analysis from a Japanese legal firm specializing in patent law (via Automaton Media) concludes that "patents established before the release of Palworld did not necessarily correspond to the mechanics of Palworld," while patents submitted after Palworld launched into early access earlier this year "worked to improve this."

One IP expert predicts that Nintendo and The Pokemon Company's lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair is "more likely to last five years" than be settled in just one, but he's also confident that the indie survival game studio can "easily" afford the battle to come.

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are suing the company behind the game, which fans dubbed “Pokémon with guns,” for patent infringement.