So basically, Palworld ended up in the crossfire between the much larger battle between Nintendo and Sony, Sony basically taking advantage of the Palworld properties and in a sort of pseudo spite attempt, grew a set of balls to try and take on a major and important franchise in Nintendo's (and Game Freak's) history, Pokemon. Nintendo is trying to make sure Sony knows their place before they get too large for the own good. Which implies that Palworld isn't inherently the issue, it's Sony's response against Nintendo as a long time rival forcing Nintendo to step in, set boundaries, and protect their property. My understanding right?
Also the law is complicated.....VERY COMPLICATED.
Agreed. And it should be pointed out that this is all in regards to Japanese laws, and...well, as Moony notes in the video, Japanese business culture is a whole different beast compared to U.S. business culture.
I've watched some video a while ago breaking down some theory about this not being about PocketPair but actually being about Sony, and it kinda makes sense
Sony apparently did push Palworld on PS5 with some salon and stuff, kinda as if it was their own Pokémon, and Nintendo might have seen that as a genuine threat. Their worst nightmare is probably Sony or Microsoft having their own Pokémon that could suddenly even scratch some of their success with the franchise.
But that's just a (game) theory. Considering how far-fetched this whole case seem to be, I kinda buy into it. Basically was could have made Nintendo angry was the deal with Sony.
Sony didn't just push PalWorld onto PS5. They created an entirely new company - PalWorld Entertainment - similar to the Pokemon Company, owned by Sony Music, Aniplex (owned by Sony Music, and thus part of the Sony conglomerate), and PocketPair. And you don't make a joint company similar to The Pokemon Company, much less as quickly as Sony did, unless you plan to push into the very same areas that the Pokemon franchise occupies (and very aggressively, in Sony's case). What's more, since Sony owns two of the three companies that own PalWorld Entertainment, that means they effectively own the PalWorld IP despite PocketPair not having fully transferred ownership.
Nintendo's decision starts making a lot of sense once viewed with that in mind, and shows that, in this case, they are absolutely willing to risk losing a few of their patents (including the parent patent of the ones noted here) to minimize the damage Sony is able to deal to the Pokemon IP. (And also shows that Sony is very likely to throw PocketPair under the bus the moment things go south (as they've traditionally dropped anything that was an attempt to cut into Nintendo's successes that only resulted in Sony taking losses), and take the PalWorld IP with them on the way out after PocketPair dissolves.)
What baffles me is how the entire process seems to work.
Unfortunately, that's the patent system - and, really, any legal system - in a nutshell: very confusing to everyone except those willing to pour years of their life into studying both the word and the intent of the laws that govern. Even the Fair-Use Policy, which everyone claims to know in and out every time emulation and fan games are brought into discussions, is just as confusing: it's more like guidelines than actual rules, and even when you know how they work, it's like walking through a field of invisible barbed fences - you won't know where the fences are until you run face-first into one, feel the barbs stab into you, and then get 10,000 volts sent though you by the electric generator attached to the network of fences.
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