The long-awaited launch of Palworld for PlayStation 5 was announced yesterday, September 24, during Sony’s State of Play broadcastbut while players from 68 countries around the world were downloading the survival and crafting game on PlayStation, Japanese players couldn’t do it.
The official Japanese account of Palworld tweeted what The game’s release for PS5 in Japan is “not yet decided”but did not explain why. “We apologize to everyone in Japan who was waiting for it, but all of our staff will do their best to deliver it to PS5 users as soon as possible, so we are sorry that you have to wait a little longer,” the statement read. “We hope you continue to support Palworld.”
It seems likely that The delay may have to do with the notorious lawsuit by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company against Pocketpairdeveloper of Palworld, for patent infringement, which appeared before the Tokyo District Court last week. Pocketpair issued a response statement saying it had no idea which patents it was accused of infringing, but experts have pointed out one that revolves around the Pokémon catching mechanics themselves.
The Japanese release is on hold, and it’s a suspicious coincidence
Following the big launch of Palworld earlier this year on PC and Xbox, Comparisons were made between the Pals of Palworld and Pokémonand some accused Pocketpair of “copying” Pokémon designs. But instead of filing a copyright infringement lawsuit, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have opted for the patent route.
It is worth noting that Palworld includes a mechanic that consists of throw a ball-like object (called Pal Sphere) to the monsters on the field to capture them, and this may be the key to the lawsuit.
For now, Palworld PS5 Japan launch is up in the airBut the game remains playable on all platforms it was originally released on, including PC via Steam and Xbox. It also remains in Microsoft’s Game Pass subscription program.
Pocketpair, meanwhile, continues to update Palworld amid the demand. Patch 0.3.8 has just been released, which fixes several bugs.
