Nintendo and The Pokemon company have recently scored a patent and could send shockwaves in the gaming industry. This duo has patented the ownership of a simple (On the face of it) idea of “summoning a character and having it fight another”. The patent number 12,403,397 may sound laughably basic but that’s exactly why it’s concerning.
Enforcing such a patent to effect would grant Nintendo an enormous advantage over developers using similar mechanics. So by patenting this idea, Nintendo and Pokemon have made a move to control the building blocks of gameplay.
The History
Palworld’s rise in 2023, with its innovative idea of “Pokemons with guns” premise and summoning mechanics, resembles closely with Nintendo’s formula. As soon as it caught global attention, Nintendo’s ears raised. As the game was released to millions of players, Nintendo filed a lawsuit that resulted in Pocketpair removing summoning mechanics altogether in 2025.
Nintendo’s pattern is quite hard to miss here, file broad patents while rivals experiment, and once any threat feels real, use those patents to strip the rival off of their innovation. Would it survive a full courtroom scrutiny? Doesn’t matter. The damage of putting a skeptical impact on the developers has been made.
Ambiguity is The Key
The troubling part of this new patent is how broad it is. Theoretically the patent could be applied to numerous existing games. From Persona’s demon summoning to Digimon battles to even Pokémon GO’s encounters. But the ones at risk are those indie developers. The smaller studios, trying to make something out of nothing.
Big players might power through this legal exploitation by cross-licensing agreements, but smaller players don’t house a highly paid army of lawyers as Nintendo does to fight this thing. This implies that such a patenting approach kills creativity before it even gets started.
IP Warfare
It’s not about safeguarding Pokemon. It’s about consolidating dominance through Intellectual Property warfare moves. With patents like character summoning and not to forget another smooth switching of riding objects (No. 12,409,387), Nintendo is trying to take ownership of basic gameplay mechanics that have existed in every other game for decades. Nintendo is not just defending its own turf, but reshaping the legal boundaries on what other developers can create.
Nintendo’s strategy of exploiting legal loopholes is in a way killing the equal playing field rule. Instead of competing the emerging competition through superior game design and innovation, they’re using their resources to win through legal intimidation.
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