Following yesterday's lawsuit by Nintendo and the Pokémon Company, Pal World Developer Pocketpair says it was “unaware” of allegations that it infringed multiple patents.
In his declarationThe studio revealed that it had not been informed of the details and called it “truly unfortunate that we are forced to spend a lot of time on matters unrelated to game development because of this lawsuit.”
“Our goal as a company has always been to make fun games,” he wrote Pocket Couple“We will continue to pursue this goal because we know that our games bring joy to millions of players around the world.”
No specific patents were listed in Nintendo's press release announcing the lawsuit. However, the developer had previously stated that it would investigate whether to take legal action against Pal World not long after its release in January and the subsequent success.
At the time, Nintendo claimed that it had been made aware that Pocketpair had infringed the copyright on its monster-fighting franchise, prompted in part by Pal World being in itself commonly referred to as “Pokémon with guns.”
Pocketpair went on to say that it is a “small indie [studio] based in Tokyo. […] We will ensure that independent game developers are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas.”
“We will continue to improve Pal World and we are committed to creating a game that our fans can be proud of,” he added. “We apologize to our fans and supporters for any concern or inconvenience this news has caused.”