Arguably, Nintendo is reacting because Sony backed Palworld. There's plenty of other monster catch & trains out there-- but Palworld's got Sony behind them, and is a big enough threat for Nintendo to activate their legal team.
There's some cultural issues with the Palworld dev being ex-Nintendo and going against the company that raised him going on, too. Underneath, Sony supporting Palworld is a threat to The Pokemon Company, a Nintendo cash-cow.
The Palworld lawsuit can be viewed as proxy battle in the continuing corporate struggle between Nintendo and Sony, since Nintendo knocking out Palworld keeps Sony from damaging/diluting the Pokemon brand.
Like you point out, a Nintendo win leaves only their (lackluster) products on the market.
I had forgotten that angle but its likely very true. After all, damn near identical games like Coromon and Nexomon are being sold that are far more Pokemon clones than Palworld could ever come close to being. They just didn't make much noise so Nintendo didn't care to even waste time on indie slop like them.
There is a lot of petty nonsense going on behind these decisions, but at the end of it there is still logical soundness enough for Nintendo to justify themselves to their shareholders.
Its like when they shut down those emulators earlier this year, its a complete dick move from our end but they could just point to Tears of the Kingdoms lackluster reception/sales and have their investors throwing extra lawyers in to help them do it.
Arguably, Nintendo is reacting because Sony backed Palworld. There's plenty of other monster catch & trains out there-- but Palworld's got Sony behind them, and is a big enough threat for Nintendo to activate their legal team.
There's some cultural issues with the Palworld dev being ex-Nintendo and going against the company that raised him going on, too. Underneath, Sony supporting Palworld is a threat to The Pokemon Company, a Nintendo cash-cow.
The Palworld lawsuit can be viewed as proxy battle in the continuing corporate struggle between Nintendo and Sony, since Nintendo knocking out Palworld keeps Sony from damaging/diluting the Pokemon brand.
Like you point out, a Nintendo win leaves only their (lackluster) products on the market.
I had forgotten that angle but its likely very true. After all, damn near identical games like Coromon and Nexomon are being sold that are far more Pokemon clones than Palworld could ever come close to being. They just didn't make much noise so Nintendo didn't care to even waste time on indie slop like them.
There is a lot of petty nonsense going on behind these decisions, but at the end of it there is still logical soundness enough for Nintendo to justify themselves to their shareholders.
Its like when they shut down those emulators earlier this year, its a complete dick move from our end but they could just point to Tears of the Kingdoms lackluster reception/sales and have their investors throwing extra lawyers in to help them do it.