Palworld's Release in Japan on Hold Indefinitely Thanks to Nintendo Lawsuit | Push Square

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One of the major surprise announcements from last night's State of Play was the sudden reveal and release of Palworld for PS5. While it's now available to purchase and play in many territories, it's skipping Japan for now, for a pretty big reason.

Earlier this month, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company entered into legal proceedings against Pocket Pair, the development studio behind Palworld. The lawsuit is built upon supposed patent infringements, with Nintendo seeking compensation for damages. The results of all this messiness is yet to be seen, but in the meantime, Palworld will not release on PS5 in Japan.

An official social post (translated by Google) states the game has been released on Sony's console in 68 other countries, but won't be available in Japan until further notice. «We apologize to everyone in Japan who was looking forward to it, but all of our staff will do our best to deliver it to PS5 users as soon as possible, so we hope you will wait for a little longer,» it reads.

It's not a huge surprise; hopefully the legal battle between Nintendo and Pocket Pair will resolve relatively quickly, though that's maybe wishful thinking.

Will you be checking out Palworld on PS5? Does the delayed Japan release affect you? Discuss in the comments section below.

Stephen has been part of the Push Square team for over six years, bringing boundless enthusiasm and a deep knowledge of video games to his role as Assistant Editor. Having grown up playing every PlayStation console to date, he's developed an eclectic taste, with particular passion for indie games, arcade racers, and puzzlers. He's also our go-to guy for Sonic-related matters, much to his delight/chagrin.

Playing and loving it right now before it's snatched away.

Let's just say that Nintendo has a case. Why now?

Not really of interest me, but I do find it strange Nintendo can patent the mechanic of throwing and object to capture a creature, but specially as this predates Pokémon.

@naruball I think a previous