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topicnews · September 19, 2024

Nintendo fans link Palworld lawsuit to Switch 2 leaks

Nintendo fans link Palworld lawsuit to Switch 2 leaks







 Pair of bags

It’s been a wild week for Nintendo. In less than 24 hours, the company was faced with major Switch 2 leaks and began suing “Palworld” developer Pocketpair for patent infringement. In fact, the tight timing has led fans to believe that the sudden whirlwind of activity is more than just a coincidence.

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Early on September 18, alleged images and hardware specs for the Nintendo Switch 2 suddenly appeared on Reddit and X. Leaks can’t always be relied upon, but these seem to be pretty legit. Naturally, gamers started sharing the news everywhere online, preparing for an official announcement from Nintendo. Later that day, however, Nintendo dropped a bombshell when it filed its “Palworld” lawsuit along with The Pokémon Company. In a public statement, Pocketpair responded to the lawsuit, saying, “It is truly unfortunate that due to this lawsuit, we will be forced to spend a lot of time on matters unrelated to game development. However, we will do our utmost for our fans and ensure that indie game developers are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas.”

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Fans know that Palworld is more than a Pokémon clone, but Nintendo suing the developers is hardly surprising. The timing was surprising to some, though. After all, Palworld has been out for months and Nintendo has not expressed any intention of suing the developers. Even people without tinfoil hats are starting to think there might be a connection between this week’s biggest Nintendo news.

The leak that everyone saw coming


Nintendo Switch with Pokémon game
Vcliex/Shutterstock

We all knew that the Switch 2 would be released sooner or later. The original Switch came out back in 2017 and its golden years actually saw the release of some of the best games, like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Still, the Switch is pretty dated and Nintendo recently confirmed plans to release a new console in the near future. Fans probably wouldn’t have had to wait much longer for an official look at the Switch’s successor, but it seems like the leakers have beat Nintendo to the punch.

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The leaks include images and specs of the Switch 2, which actually looks like a slimmer, more powerful version of the Switch. If these leaks are genuine, then Nintendo is unsurprisingly banking on the success of the Switch’s form factor. The way you play games on the new console will be largely the same as on the Switch, but there appear to be some much-needed design updates: the new console will reportedly have a significantly larger OLED screen, 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and a much newer CPU/GPU unit. Nintendo hasn’t confirmed the leaks are accurate, but sources close to VGC say, “The Reddit images match what the company has told its partners about its design.” It seems like we could really be looking at a model of the Switch 2.

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Is the Palworld lawsuit just a coping mechanism?


Grizzlybolt
Pair of bags

The existence of the Switch 2 comes as no surprise to anyone – after all, it could have been in developers’ hands as early as 2023 – but this leak is undoubtedly frustrating for Nintendo. The company had undoubtedly planned for a big launch, but now it may have to pivot. Some fans believe that with this “Palworld” lawsuit, the company is doing just that.

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Some find the timing of the lawsuit a bit suspicious and have the impression that Nintendo is really just trying to cover up news about the Switch 2 leaks. Others think Nintendo is using the extra attention from the leaks to Really to make his position clear by filing the lawsuit.

On the other hand, Nintendo may just be trying to make up for the fact that the leaks have made the company seem a little disorganized, especially after everyone has been waiting so long for the Switch 2 announcement.

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Other, less conspiracy-minded people believe Nintendo is just taking out some of its frustration on Pocketpair. Regardless of the true reasons for the lawsuit, it could have serious implications for a smaller company like Pocketpair. People will probably forget about these leaks after the Switch 2 is officially announced, but small developers won’t soon forget how fiercely Nintendo protects its patent rights.


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