Nintendo’s Palworld Lawsuit Reportedly Loses Its Biggest Threat As Pocketpair Nears The Finish Line

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company may still get a legal ruling in their Palworld case, but new reporting suggests the lawsuit is unlikely to remove the current version of the game from sale.

The long running legal battle between Nintendo, The Pokémon Company, and Pocketpair may be nearing its final stretch. According to Gamesfray, the Tokyo District Court has scheduled an evidence presentation for October 1, 2026, with the court expected to share its opinion on November 9, 2026. The important shift is scope. Gamesfray reports that Nintendo and The Pokémon Company amended their claims in November 2025, limiting the case to older versions of Palworld before Pocketpair made gameplay changes. Automaton also reviewed Tokyo District Court records and reported the same general direction.

That means the current version of Palworld appears much safer than it once did. The lawsuit may still continue, but the path toward blocking the modern version of the game now looks much weaker.

The lawsuit originally focused on patent claims tied to gameplay mechanics believed to involve creature capture and gliding. As previously reported by Game Developer, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company sought an injunction and damages after claiming Palworld infringed several Japanese patents.

Pocketpair later changed parts of the game. In November 2024, the studio removed the mechanic where players summoned Pals by throwing Pal Spheres. In May 2025, it also changed gliding so players use an item based glider instead of directly mounting Pals.

Pocketpair said at the time that it still believed Palworld did not infringe Nintendo’s patents and that the patents themselves were invalid, but the studio made the changes as preventive measures so development and distribution could continue.

Gamesfray now argues that even if Nintendo wins part of the case, the remaining damages may be limited to around 5 million yen, or roughly $30,000. That would be a symbolic outcome compared with the broader commercial success of Palworld.

This is not an official victory for Pocketpair yet, but the direction looks bad for Nintendo.

The biggest goal of the lawsuit was never just money. The real threat was whether Nintendo could use patents to stop Palworld from continuing in its current form. If the case is now limited to older versions of the game, then that threat has lost most of its force.

Pocketpair’s preventive updates may have been frustrating for players, but they appear to have protected the game’s future. Palworld can continue moving toward its full release while Nintendo is left fighting over versions that are no longer the center of the product.

The bigger industry takeaway is clear. Patent litigation can pressure smaller studios, but it does not always produce the clean shutdown that larger companies may want. If Palworld survives this case with only minor damages or no meaningful injunction, it could become one of the most important legal wins for an independent developer in recent gaming history.

For now, the case is not over. But Nintendo’s strongest path to stopping Palworld appears to be fading fast.

Do you think Nintendo was right to pursue Palworld over patents, or did Pocketpair’s updates prove the lawsuit went too far?