During the State of Play, Palworld was unveiled for PlayStation 5, releasing the day of the event. However, it doesn’t appear Japanese fans are getting that same treatment, likely due to the lawsuit lobbed by Nintendo.
Over on Twitter, the developer addressed the lack of a Japanese PS5 release, not quite noting the lawsuit as the reason, but we can suspect that to be the case. It notes that the release date has “not yet been decided” but the team is doing its best to bring the game to PS5 over in Japan.
In a not-so-shocking turn of events, after previously noting that it has its eye on Palworld, Nintendo had finally filed a lawsuit over patent infringement earlier this month, accusing fellow Japanese studio, Pocketpair, of infringing on several of its patents. For its part, the largely indie studio assured fans it will fight the suit.
Unfortunately for Japanese fans, it could take years for the dust to settle and the lawsuit to run its course, and that’s assuming things come up Pocketpair, if Nintendo takes home the win, it’s likely the studio will be forced to shut the game down or slash many of the mechanics that make the game an alternative to Pokemon.