Palworld takes the 'red rag to a bull' approach to its Nintendo lawsuit, announces 'a 2-player competitive card game'

The new fishing mechanic in Palworld's Terraria update, with a player character holding a fishing pole themed like in-game Pals.

(Image credit: Pocketpair)

In a move that future legal scholars will surely brand 'the matador approach,' Palworld—currently embroiled in a lawsuit with Nintendo over its various similarities to the Pokémon series—is launching a trading card game.

Created in partnership with Bushiroad and releasing July 30 this year, the Palworld Official Card Game "is a 2-player competitive card game where you can enjoy strategic and tactical battles through deploying various unique Pals." Which, so far you could swap out the word "Pals" for "Pokémon" and have a perfectly accurate description of the Pokémon TCG.

With Nintendo going after Pocketpair, claiming that the studio has infringed multiple of its lawsuits, the move to announce a Pokémon-esque card game feels like Palworld deliberately poking the bear.

Which, to be clear, it probably isn't. It would be a phenomenally bad idea to purposefully spit in Nintendo's eye while court proceedings are ongoing, and it's likely that Pocketpair's had these kinds of plans for a while, perhaps even since before Nintendo threw down the gauntlet.

But you have to admit, intentional or not, it is quite funny.

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One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.

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