Nintendo and The Pokémon Company obtained a United States Patent on summoning an in-game character and letting it fight another character. Gamesfray.com was one of the first to spot this new patent from Nintendo.
On September 2, 2025, Nintendo was granted U.S. Patent No. 12,403,397 (PDF via Gamesfray). This patent was first applied for in March 2023 and was recently granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
Gamesfray breaks down the patent using the official wording and then what it means easier to understand terms.
Legal speak:
(1) A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a game program, the game program causing a processor of an information processing apparatus to execute:
(2) performing control of moving a player character on a field in a virtual space, based on a movement operation input;
(3) performing control of causing a sub character to appear on the field, based on a first operation input, and
(4) when an enemy character is placed at a location where the sub character is caused to appear, controlling a battle between the sub character and the enemy character by a first mode in which the battle proceeds based on an operation input, and
(5) when the enemy character is not placed at the location where the sub character is caused to appear, starting automatic control of automatically moving the sub character that has appeared; and
(6) performing control of moving the sub character in a predetermined direction on the field, based on a second operation input, and, when the enemy character is placed at a location of a designation, controlling a battle between the sub character and the enemy character by a second mode in which the battle automatically proceeds.
Translation:
(1) There must be a PC, console or other computing device and the game is stored on a drive or similar storage medium.
(2) You can move a character in a virtual space.
(3) You must be able to summon a character. They call it a “sub character” by which they mean it’s not the player character, but, for example, a little monster such as a Pokémon that the player character has at its disposal.
Then the logic branches out, with items (4) and (5) being mutually exclusive scenarios, before reuniting again in item (6):
(4) This is about summoning the “sub character” in a place where there already is another character that it will then (when instructed to do so) fight.
(5) This alternative scenario is about summoning the “sub character” at a position where there is no other character to fight immediately.
(6) This final step is about sending the “sub character” in a direction and then letting an automatic battle ensue with another character. It is not clear whether this is even needed if one previously executed step (4) where the “sub character” will basically be thrown at another character.
(1) A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a game program, the game program causing a processor of an information processing apparatus to execute:
(2) performing control of moving a player character on a field in a virtual space, based on a movement operation input;
(3) performing control of causing a sub character to appear on the field, based on a first operation input, and
(4) when an enemy character is placed at a location where the sub character is caused to appear, controlling a battle between the sub character and the enemy character by a first mode in which the battle proceeds based on an operation input, and
(5) when the enemy character is not placed at the location where the sub character is caused to appear, starting automatic control of automatically moving the sub character that has appeared; and
(6) performing control of moving the sub character in a predetermined direction on the field, based on a second operation input, and, when the enemy character is placed at a location of a designation, controlling a battle between the sub character and the enemy character by a second mode in which the battle automatically proceeds.
Translation:
(1) There must be a PC, console or other computing device and the game is stored on a drive or similar storage medium.
(2) You can move a character in a virtual space.
(3) You must be able to summon a character. They call it a “sub character” by which they mean it’s not the player character, but, for example, a little monster such as a Pokémon that the player character has at its disposal.
Then the logic branches out, with items (4) and (5) being mutually exclusive scenarios, before reuniting again in item (6):
(4) This is about summoning the “sub character” in a place where there already is another character that it will then (when instructed to do so) fight.
(5) This alternative scenario is about summoning the “sub character” at a position where there is no other character to fight immediately.
(6) This final step is about sending the “sub character” in a direction and then letting an automatic battle ensue with another character. It is not clear whether this is even needed if one previously executed step (4) where the “sub character” will basically be thrown at another character.
With Nintendo owning this patent, there is no saying what would happen to the countless other games where players can summon NPCs to fight on their behalf. This would include literally all of the Souls titles from FromSoftware, every Final Fantasy with summons, the Persona games, Death Stranding 2, Megami Tensei, Digimon, and the list goes on and on and on.
Naturally, being granted this patent gives Nintendo leverages in their legal battle against Palworld developer Pocketpair.
As if this wasn't enough of an example of how much of a joke the patent system is, Nintendo was also just granted U.S. Patent No. 12,409,387 (PDF via Gamesfray). In short, this particular patent describes a system and method for smooth transitions when a character mounts or dismounts a ridable object or creature in a virtual space. More specifically, it patents gameplay systems where the game will automatically switch from a flying creature mount to a ground-based mount to allow for uninterrupted movement as they near the ground.
This was another initial point of contention in Nintendo's lawsuit against Palworld, though Palworld changed their mounting system to work around this particular point of contention.
The fact that both, let alone one, of these ideas were considered novel enough to be granted a patent is an absolute joke.
