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‘Cold-Blooded Business’: Nintendo Is Patent Trolling Palworld Because It Got Too Big (www.404media.co)

submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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So you don’t think these patents are going after any aspect of Palworld that players would recognize as a defining feature of a Pokémon game?

I mean, there's like a mechanic where you throw the spheres, right? And this is a very obvious, in your face system [that’s very much like Pokémon]. But I think that it will be a lot more technical than this. Nintendo would have dug through every single action inside the game, they would have probably reverse engineered it, and just find ways to sue these guys.

You can bet your life that Nintendo hates this company, and they couldn't find an angle with the character designs. This is why they are not mentioned in their press release. So they come with these technical peculiarities. So I personally believe, if you act like this, you can sue like 90 percent of the game developers in the world. I'm sure there's like thousands of games that have a confirmation screen when you go from sleep mode to resuming the game right, but if you basically trigger the wrath of Nintendo, they will come after you.

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[-] [email protected] 1 points 29 minutes ago

I was a Nintendo fan my entire life. I literally own almost every Nintendo console (no vrboy). Nintendo made the unfortunate decision to not create quality games, but to litigate for profit. I will never go back to Nintendo so long as they still have Gary Bowser's life in their hands. Nintendo has lost life long fans over their action towards competitors, and their inability to make a quality game(say what you want but Pokémon is half assed compared to palworld). I look forward to the eventual bankruptcy filing from Nintendo. I might buy Mario.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 38 minutes ago

Nintendo literally created a patent this year and waited for it to get approved before suing palworld a month after. Clowns over at Nintendo.

[-] [email protected] 14 points 20 hours ago

If you can't beat them, sue them. 🤔

[-] [email protected] 11 points 16 hours ago

The Nintendo way. If someone else is making money, make that your money instead

[-] [email protected] 35 points 1 day ago

I think people are jumping to the conclusion way too fast. We should wait and see what the actual case is about before making judgements.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 45 minutes ago

Patents are cancer for software, I'll side with Carmack before Nintendo any day.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 hour ago

Nah. Unless these guys literally stole the code, Nintendo can fuck right off.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 4 hours ago

I think that conclusion is being come to because Nintendo has a really bad history with patent and legal abuse

[-] [email protected] 8 points 10 hours ago

Nah, fuck bitchtendo.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago

ya man fuck them!!! Like who gives a fuck what's happening we just want to fuck everyone when there's a chance

[-] [email protected] 6 points 4 hours ago

we just want to fuck everyone when there's a chance

No, just specifically Nintendo as they have shown that they are complete assholes

[-] [email protected] 97 points 1 day ago

This is not business. This is extortion. Palworld has opened a can of worms with a realization that gamers don’t need Pokemon anymore. There can be better alternatives.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 3 hours ago

If Nintendo actually wins this, I will - as someone who grew up with Pokémon - destroy them as a company. I will slander them into submission if I have to, fuck them if I can't even have a circus to go with my bread.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 16 hours ago

Plug for the game cassette beasts! An excellent monster collecting game that feels like a natural progression from early Pokemon

[-] [email protected] 25 points 22 hours ago

I mean, the bar is on the ground at this point at best.

It was a painful process, having my love of Pokémon games slowly stripped away until I finally gave up on them. It's hard giving up on something that you've loved from childhood. Pokémon used to be my comfort game and it's now unplayable trash.

The only reason I still have my Switch at all right now is the Zelda franchise because I currently lack the means to emulate. And the occasional sale item from the eShop because I'm not paying full price for a Switch game ever again after they ruined Pokémon.

I'm surprised no one's brought up the hellscape we know as the Nintendo eShop. It's >90% trash.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 20 hours ago

Valid competition vs a super corpo that milked the cow dry. Of course their going to be evil about it.

[-] [email protected] 48 points 1 day ago

Nintendo is one of the worst companies in the videogames world. They need to fail, and I really hope this next switch becomes something worse than WiiU and they disappear from the world.

However, they won't. Their fanatics won't let them. So I can only hope they double down in their anti consumer behaviour to screw as many customers as they can. Because honestly? If after all these years you keep buying a Pokémon game, you deserve to be scammed and abused as a customer.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 8 hours ago

What? Instead of them acting bad and overprotective about their games, you'd rather the games didn't exist at all? That doesn't make sense. There are problems with the company, but they still make good games. It's not like they mistreat their employees or anything (as far as I'm aware).

Question: What happens if they do disappear like you want? Nintendo fans stop getting the games they like... and how does this benefit everyone else?

Also saying someone deserves to be scammed because they are uninformed is weird. Some people just don't read gaming discourse and reviews, they're not obligated to. And some people actually like the games despite their flaws, but that doesn't mean they don't deserve a better game.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 4 hours ago

First, they are not overprotective with their games. They are suing for patent infringement over bullshit because in Japan they own patents for things as stupid as "riding a creature in a game". And this is what's happening here. They are hampering progress because they want to be the only one in the monster catching genre. They can vigorously fuck off.

If Nintendo disappears, someone else will come. So many companies died and nothing happened. It's a videogame, they're not making life-saving devices.

If someone buys a Pokémon game now they are rarely uninformed, they are rewarding a company for their shitty behaviour. It's not the first Pokémon and it's not the first time Nintendo acts shitty. But their fanatics will keep defending the company no matter what. At that point, what else can you expect? It's like buying an EA game and then crying because it's full of micro transactions and useless dlcs, etc.

Also, yeah, if you're uninformed and get scammed over stuff that's been happening for years, it's all on you. Fool me once and all that.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago

I agree that they can fuck off with the patent thing. I'm not trying to defend their actions. Also yeah, if someone buys a pokemon game after not liking the previous one, then cries about it being bad, that's on them. But not all of them have played one of the bad ones before. Although I guess if you don't research before you buy, you can't be too surprised. Also you have to keep in mind that the people complaining about the pokemon games online aren't the majority of the people buying it. Most people buying them just want a pokemon game and don't care too much about it's quality as long as it still has what they like. Although that doesn't excuse all the bugs and stuff.

But with Nintendo disappearing, how does that benefit anyone? If you don't like Nintendo games, you can already just not play them. People buying them buy them because they like them. Them disappearing doesn't help people who do like Nintendo games, and it doesn't help people who don't like Nintendo games.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 hours ago

Because if they kill Palworld, that proves they are willing to cross that line and deserve to be destroyed, and they very clearly WANT to destroy Palworld.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

But with Nintendo disappearing, how does that benefit anyone? If you don't like Nintendo games, you can already just not play them. People buying them buy them because they like them. Them disappearing doesn't help people who do like Nintendo games, and it doesn't help people who don't like Nintendo games.

They have killed tons of fan games just because they have enough money to throw at lawyers so people won't even try to fight them.

They kill competition with these practices.

They are against emulation and game conservation while actively screwing consumers who try to legally play their games...

And the list goes on and on. They are a bad company that happens to make some good games. Those few good games are not enough to redeem them for the rest of what they do.

Edit: typo

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Emulation still exists though. And the fan games are made by and for Nintendo fans. They usually also want to play the new Nintendo games as well, not just the fan games. And those fan games wouldn't exist without the Nintendo games they're inspired by. I mean, I guess if you only play old Nintendo games or fan games based on them, Nintendo disappearing could be good. But I would bet that there are many more people who want to play Nintendo's new games, and will want to play the ones that are released in the future, than people who only want to play old ones/fan games.

Edit: Also

They kill competition with these practices.

So there should instead be 1 less company in the console space? That will increase competition?

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Emulation exists despite Nintendo trying their best at every chance they have to destroy it. Not thanks to them.

And fan games exist only until Nintendo decides they have to be shut down. Which is frequently.

For the Nintendo future games? Well, what can I say? Again, it's a video game company. And as Palworld and others are showing, many others can do what Nintendo does in better ways. We won't have another mario if they close? There will be someone making a new platformer as good. There won't be a new Pokemon? We already have better alternatives.

But if they disappear, games like Palworld will have a chance without having to risk being sued over all this crap.

Edit: Nintendo is the one hoarding these patents that then they can weaponize against competition, so yeah, if they disappear, competition will get better because they won't have to be worried about being sued for things as dumb as putting a confirmation window after resuming a game from sleep.

[-] [email protected] 43 points 1 day ago

They need to fail, and I really hope this next switch becomes something worse than WiiU and they disappear from the world.

However, they won't. Their fanatics won't let them.

Nintendo is famously one of the most cash rich companies out there. A fiscal report from last year indicated they had USD$9 billion in liquid assets.

Nintendo isn't going anywhere anytime soon and it has very little to do with whether or not fanatics "let them".

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[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

My hot take is that even before they flushed their goodwill down the toilet, they were a mediocre company. "Here, buy our 500 dollar console with graphics worse than your phone so you can play the Mario game that we added a magic hat to."

Worst and most expensive products in the industry.

[-] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago

Show me a platformer as good as Mario Odyssey not counting A Hat in Time, and I might stop buying from Nintendo. Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are great games too. Saying that they don't offer anything valuable is misguided.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

You have to buy their shitty overpriced console to play those. The value nosedives.

And psychonauts 1/2 are right there.

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[-] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago

most expensive products in the industry.

Counter point: PS5 Pro is au$1200 vs Switch OLED for au$540

[-] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Counter counterpoint Ps5 pro is modern hardware. Switch internals were outdated at launch and they still cost the same as 7 years ago.

Ps: I do believe Ps5 pro is stupidly overpriced, but that doesn't mean Switch isn't.

Edit: typo

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

There's no doubt they've created some very good games in the past. Some of their games have become the standard in their genre, and some others have created a new genre even.

But that can't justify their shitty behavior. Especially now that they only create crap. Sure, breath of the wild was huge, made some incredible things, etc. But what else? Mario Odyssey is just mario 64 v.2, animal crossing? Let's not talk about that shit, and I think Pokémon doesn't even deserve to be mentioned.

[-] [email protected] 24 points 1 day ago

Fuck Nintendo.

[-] [email protected] 21 points 1 day ago

I have been boycotting nintendo for a while now. But it seems that for most people, they don't care how horrid a company is so long as they get to consume.

[-] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago

The best example of this is Disney.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 21 hours ago

What makes Disney particularly difficult to boycott is that it is a monopoly.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

My money’s on the balls, Nintendo always likes to kick the balls.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

I think this is a bad take, and the interviewer seems to contradict himself. He suggests that Nintendo goes after companies who copy them, but also mentions another company they've sued for patent infringement for a game that didn't resemble any Nintendo property. So it seems like it has less to do with whether or not you "trigger the wrath of Nintendo", and more whether you use their patents or not.

It should be noted that this is all just conjecture from somebody not related to the case at all. Nothing in this interview reveals any details about the actual case in question.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Their patents are not for technological innovative things at all but are for things like "presenting a confirmation pop-up window after resuming a game from sleep” or for in a isometric game projecting a shadow for a character that's behind something so that the player know it's there.

They're the kind of obvious solutions that any expert in that domain would develop independently if asked to solve that problem, and patent applications for shit like that would be laughed out of the Patent Office anywhere else than Japan (and in the US before their Patent System went to shit in the late 90s).

I very much doubt this shit is valid in Europe unless there's some kind of Treaty that means Japanese patents also apply here. If taken to court in the US such patents would most likely be invalidated - the problem in the US is that the Patent Office will accept any old bollocks obvious to doman experts and containing zero innovation, not that Patent Law actually protects this shit and they will be upheld if somebody has the money needed to dispute them in to Court.

However this is Japan and the Japanese Patent System, so it's probably rotten to the core.

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this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2024

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