Palworld has ditched creature summoning from spheres to avoid the wrath of Pokemon

Pocket Pair has released an update for the popular creature-catching game Palworld that removes the ability to summon pals by throwing Pal Spheres on the ground. Creatures will now summon automatically next to the player when a summoning ball is activated.

Although the game maker has not issued a statement regarding the changes, it seems highly likely that the move was taken as a result of the ongoing patent legal battle with Nintendo and The Pokemon Company.

Palworld’s popularity

Palworld launched on Steam Early Access and Xbox Game Preview in January 2024 and proved to be one of the year’s surprise hits. It proved so popular that it later enjoyed a PS5 launch and it has been announced that Krafton, the team behind PUBG Mobile, will be converting it to mobile, too. No release date has been given for the mobile version, but it is expected to arrive sometime in 2025.

Although the game was a big hit from the start, a lot of attention was given to the game’s similarity to Pokemon. Many of the pals bear strong resemblances to well-known Pokemon characters, while gameplay features like Pal Sphere summoning are very similar to those of Pokeball summoning. The game is still described in the media as being Pokemon with guns. There was a lot of talk of when, rather than if, Pokemon would take legal action against the independent game. Earlier this year, that action came.

According to details released by Pocket Pair, Nintendo sought damages equivalent to around $70,000 and wanted an injunction against Palworld for infringement of three patents. Interestingly, those patents weren’t filed until after Palworld’s release, suggesting Nintendo may have only filed because of the game’s success. In any case, Nintendo is believed to have been especially miffed about the game’s Pal Sphere system.

Palworld updates

Likely as a result of the impending legal action, Pocket Pair has released an update that changes the summoning system. Rather than aiming and throwing spheres to summon Pals to a designated spot, players will now hold out the sphere and the Pal will be summoned next to them. Honestly, it’s a fairly minor gameplay change that won’t really affect play, and that makes it all the more likely that the change comes as a result of the pending lawsuit.

Fans will be hoping that the patent challenge won’t impede planned developments with the game. Palworld has a big update, Feybreak, launching on December 23, having been showcased at The Game Awards 2024. It includes a new island that Pocket Pair claims is six times bigger than Sakurajima, launched during the previous update. There are also going to be new Pals, weapons, and buildings, as well as some new mechanics and a brand-new faction leader.

It was also announced in November that 2025 would see a crossover between Palworld and fellow indie-title Terraria. There are few details about the crossover yet, but artwork has been released showing characters from the games clasping hands.

The patent case, filed by Pokemon in Japan, started in September 2024, and experts expect this kind of case to take around 18 months to complete. Assuming the two parties don’t come to an out-of-court agreement, that means, Pocket Pair and their fans may have to wait until 2026 before there is any resolution to the dispute.