submitted 5 days ago by mesamunefire@lemmy.world to c/games@lemmy.world

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[-] Prunebutt@slrpnk.net 40 points 5 days ago

"moving characters to a virtual field when an event is triggered" (entering a battle)

How is that a legit patent, when there are so many obvious instances of prior art?

[-] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 46 points 5 days ago

Even if there weren't a million examples of prior art, the fact that patents on game mechanics are even allowed is just awful for the industry as a whole, and we as players should absolutely rail against this. Every game borrows from other games' ideas and mechanics - I'd bet money that there hasn't been a single fully "original" game in 20+ years. If companies are allowed to patent every little mechanic (even ones they didn't come up with), the industry as a whole will just become impossible to operate in.

[-] Infynis@midwest.social 12 points 5 days ago

Every game borrows from other games' ideas and mechanics

It's not only games, this is just straight-up how art works. Culture develops over time. Of course capitalism had to get a middleman in there lol

[-] Prunebutt@slrpnk.net 10 points 5 days ago

the fact that patents on game mechanics are even allowed is just awful for the industry as a whole

Yes, definetly.

[-] ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca 14 points 5 days ago

It's a Japanese patent. I'm not sure how it would hold up internationally, but Pocketpair is also a Japanese company and this lawsuit is entirely within the Japanese legal system. That probably gives Nintendo a bit of an advantage since they're such a large and iconic Japanese corporation.