Nintendo and The Pokémon Company's latest patent is a hammer blow to the games industry

Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that Nintendo has been locked in an epic battle with Pocketpair, creator of the obvious Pokémon rip-off Palworld. Nintendo often resorts to legal retaliation at the drop of a hat, but it seems this was the last straw. They have gone to the patent office this time.

Together with The Pokémon Company, Nintendo has obtained Patent 12,403,397 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. It is a big ol' document with many words and entertaining drawings, but the core of it is protecting the act of summoning a character and having it battle. Basically Pokémon's essence. 

This is, of course, another bullet in Nintendo’s efforts to consign Palworld to the pages of history, but it is more than that. Pokémon already inspired so many other titles like Temtem and ChronoMon, and now they are at risk. And how far does this reach? Final Fantasy 10 has you summon and command its Aeons, is this going to breach the patent?

More to the point, however, I don’t understand why this was granted. Pokémon is definitely the most popular example of the monster-catching genre, but it isn’t the first. Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei was released on the Famicom in 1987, where you negotiated with demons and had they join and fight with you. That was almost 10 years before Pokémon Red. Side note: Megami Tensei is an incredible series worth exploring, as it's more than just the thing that spawned Persona.

Let’s step back even more. It is argued that the first commercial vehicle was made by what is now Mercedes-Benz. I firmly believe that if they tried to patent the motor vehicle now, they would be laughed out of the room. They made it, but it is no longer theirs; it belongs to the world at this point. The same with Nintendo's Patent, monster catching and summoning is a genre too ingrained in gaming to own.

Or it should be.

But they succeeded with the patent, and honestly, it makes me like Nintendo even less. It just adds to the narrative that Nintendo is a big, greedy company. They have the fastest-selling console, they have an army of beloved franchises, and none of that is changing. Yet still they pursue anything that could even potentially lose them money. It is damaging the industry to crack down on an entire genre.

Just stop.