Video Game Patents Are Often “Used In Bad Faith,” Says Dev

Last year, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against Palworld developer Pocketpair in Japanese court alleging infringement on the company’s patents. The initial battle was over relatively minor aspects of Palworld that were similar to Pokemon. More recently, Nintendo was granted a potentially game-changing patent that “covers the fundamental gameplay mechanic of summoning a character and letting it fight another” in a video game. Now, one of the devs behind Baldur’s Gate 3 has weighed in on these types of patents and the intent behind them.

Michael “Cromwelp” Douse, the publishing director of Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios replied with a since-deleted post on X (via GamesRadar), “These types of patents are too often used in bad faith.”

Douse didn’t expand on his thoughts beyond that in the now-missing thread, but Nintendo hasn’t made any secret of its displeasure with Palworld. The initial lawsuit asked for 5 million yen–which is roughly just under $33,000 in American dollars–for the three patents allegedly infringed upon by Palworld. Kantan Games CEO and video game analyst Serkan Toto previously previously predicted that the lawsuit was designed to force Pocketpair to make a large settlement with Nintendo.

Pocketpair already made changes to Palworld, including the removal of the Poke Ball-like Pal Spheres, but the latest patent granted to Nintendo may make it a lot harder for any future Pokemon imitators to copy the formula.

Some video game patents could potentially expire in time, including Warner Bros. Games’ hold on the Nemesis system created by Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor developer Monolith. Unfortunately for fans who enjoyed that innovative feature, Warner Bros. will maintain ownership of the patent until at least 2036. Monolith was closed down earlier this year when WB Games canceled its Wonder Woman game.