Pokemon lawsuit: Palworld maker Pocketpair launches its first Nintendo Switch game

Despite facing a lawsuit from Nintendo and The Pokemon Company, Palworld developer Pocketpair has launched its first game on the Nintendo eShop. While this marks Pocketpair's first title for the Nintendo Switch, the company made no prior announcements about the launch. To celebrate the game's debut on the platform, Pocketpair has also confirmed a 50% discount on OverDungeon until January 24.

The Japanese gaming studio took to social media platform X (earlier Twitter) to announce its expansion into the Nintendo’s game marketplace with which it's fighting a legal battle. The X post also includes a link to the game’s Nintendo eShop listing:

Take a look at the post here

In the post, the company wrote: “Overdungeon releases on the Nintendo Switch™ today✨ 50% off sale to celebrate the release��Roguelike x Tower Defense x Card Game Genre-blending real-time action card game��”

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Originally launched on Steam in 2019, OverDungeon is an action card game that combines tower defence and roguelike elements, as described on the Nintendo eShop. With Palworld available on PS5 and Xbox, the decision to release OverDungeon exclusively on the Nintendo eShop has raised questions. Some social media users speculated that this move may be a response to Nintendo's recent lawsuit against the company.

Why PocketPair is facing a lawsuit from Nintendo

Pocketpair is facing a lawsuit from Nintendo and Nintendo and The Pokemon Company over its monster-taming game Palworld. The lawsuit accuses the game of infringing on Pokemon's creature-capturing patents.

Apart from this, Pocketpair has also faced comparisons to Nintendo titles before. For example, the role-playing game Craftopia which was launched in 2020 resembled The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Despite ongoing updates to Craftopia and a lawsuit from Nintendo regarding Palworld, the developers have continued to actively promote Palworld. PocketPair recently released a major update for the game which is expected to increase its player count.

The game also recently announced a crossover with Terraria, introducing a new Pal named Meowmeow, with more Terraria-themed content planned for 2025. Pocketpair has also teased additional Palworld updates, including a Mac port and a potential mobile version.
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