Palworld's newest patch stops you from gliding with your Pals, and yes, it is because of Nintendo's lawsuit

We all know that Palworld developer Pocketpair are currently dealing with a lawsuit from Mario maker Nintendo. Specifically, it's over patent rights, rather than something like copyright infringement which everyone was expecting given the liberties that Palword takes with its Pal designs. In November it was confirmed what those patents are, partially relating to the fact you could throw out your Pals from a ball and they'd appear, similar to Pokemon Legends Arceus. That feature was patched out from Palworld though, and in a new post Pocketpair has confirmed that this is because of the ongoing lawsuit.

"On November 30th, 2024, we released Patch v0.3.11 for Palworld," the official Palworld Twitter account explained. "This patch removed the ability to summon Pals by throwing Pal Spheres and instead changed it to a static summon next to the player. Several other game mechanics were also changed with this patch. As many have speculated, these changes were indeed a result of the ongoing litigation… Unfortunately, as the alternative would have led to an even greater deterioration of the gameplay experience for players, it was determined that this change was necessary."

As it turns out, the lawsuit will also be affecting a future update. Pocketpair explained that in the multiplayer game's newest patch, v0.5.5, "gliding will be performed using a glider rather than with Pals. Pals in the player's team will still provide passive buffs to gliding, but players will now need to have a glider in their inventory in order to glide."

Now, look, here's the thing. I don't like the look of Palworld. I've not played a single second of it, it comes across as incredibly dull and borderline willfully unambitious. Not to mention how creatively bankrupt it is when it comes to the Pals' designs. And yet, it really stinks that Nintendo are doing this.

Patents have long held the industry back, one of the more famous ones being the Middle-earth series' nemesis system that Warner Bros. get to sit on considering Monolith is closed now. They are massively creatively stifling too. What do you mean only Nintendo gets to have a game where you throw a ball and a guy comes out? Absolutely bonkers. Pack it in, Nintendo.