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

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.

But it is different, I promise. From the blurb, it sounds like basebuilding will form a key part of the whole Palworld Official Card Game experience, much as you can in the videogame. “Players fight alongside their Pal companions, gathering resources, and building bases as they aim for victory. These adorable and dependable Pals will utilize their own unique traits to lead you to victory.”

And that’s about all there is to know at this point, though you can watch a video where a bunch of different Pals burst out of playing cards if that appeals. I suspect Pocketpair will reveal more details according to its own schedule as the release date approaches.

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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