Nintendo Patents “Summon A Monster To Fight For You.” Because Of Course They Did.
On September 2, 2025, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company were officially granted U.S. Patent No. 12,403,397 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. What brilliant piece of groundbreaking technology does this cover? A method of summoning a character to fight on behalf of the player. In other words, Nintendo has now patented pressing a button and calling in backup.
If you play games, this mechanic should sound familiar. It is Pokémon’s bread and butter, but it also appears in countless RPGs, MMOs, and action games across decades. From summoning demons in Persona to spirit ashes in Elden Ring, this is one of the most common mechanics in gaming history. And yet Nintendo has managed to convince a government agency that it is novel enough to warrant a monopoly.
The kicker? This comes at a time when Nintendo is already suing Palworld developer Pocketpair, and this shiny new patent looks like yet another legal cudgel to swing around the courtroom. It is not about protecting innovation. It is about drawing a circle around the most generic mechanic imaginable and daring others to step inside.
What the Patent Actually Says
Patents are famous for sounding absurd when you strip away the legal jargon, and this one is no exception. The official text explains that when a player moves on a field, they can summon a sub character. If that summon happens on an enemy, it triggers a battle in “mode one” where the player can control the fight. If the summon is not on an enemy, the sub character wanders automatically. If it eventually collides with an enemy, the battle switches to “mode two,” an automatic fight.
If this sounds exactly like Pokémon’s modern field mechanics in Scarlet and Violet, that is because it is. Nintendo has essentially written down the obvious rules of its own recent games and declared them off-limits for everyone else. You can read the actual document here in PDF form if you want to watch sixty pages of flowcharts turn the act of summoning a critter into a space program checklist.
Defenders will tell you this is very specific, that it only applies if every element of the claims is copied exactly. They will say this cannot possibly apply to Persona or Diablo 4. But the reality is simpler: most small developers do not want to risk finding out in court. A patent does not need to be wielded to have power. Its existence alone creates fear.
Why This Is a Problem
Critics across the industry have pointed out the danger here. Gameplay patents have a long, ugly history. Bandai Namco once patented loading screen minigames, which meant that an entire generation of players sat staring at blank screens instead of enjoying a simple diversion. Nintendo itself previously patented sanity mechanics, effectively bottling up an entire horror game sub-genre until the patent expired. This is not speculation. It has happened before.
The problem is not only that this specific patent exists, but that it encourages a culture where core mechanics are treated like proprietary formulas instead of shared building blocks. Imagine if id Software had patented “shooting demons in first person” back in 1993. The entire FPS genre would have been locked behind lawyers instead of exploding into Half-Life, Call of Duty, and everything that followed. Patents of this type are the opposite of innovation.
It also sets a precedent for other corporations to claim ownership over obvious design patterns. If summoning a helper is patentable, what about switching characters mid-battle? What about dodging into invincibility frames? The line between protecting real inventions and choking off creativity gets blurrier with every approval. And make no mistake, Nintendo is showing other publishers that this is not only possible but profitable.
The Palworld Context
This patent does not exist in a vacuum. Nintendo is currently engaged in an ongoing lawsuit with Palworld developer Pocketpair, accusing them of infringing on Pokémon mechanics. Many analysts suspect this new patent is designed to strengthen Nintendo’s case, or at least give them another weapon to wave at competitors. Timing is everything, and the timing here is about as subtle as a Poké Ball to the head.
The fact that Palworld has become a massive success only sharpens the picture. Nintendo is not simply protecting its brand. It is actively trying to kneecap a rival that dared to steal its spotlight. The message is clear: compete with us at your peril. Summon creatures? Collect monsters? Watch your back.
For players, this is exhausting. Instead of responding with better Pokémon games, Nintendo is responding with lawyers and paperwork. Instead of evolving the formula, it is entrenching it. The company that once bragged about fun and creativity now wants the government to certify that it alone may decide who gets to call in a monster to fight.
Why Fans Should Care
Even if you think this patent is narrow and harmless, it still matters. Patents like this discourage experimentation. They make indie developers nervous about stepping into monster-catching territory, even if they had fresh ideas. They raise legal costs, waste developer time, and funnel resources into litigation instead of innovation.
Fans lose out, too. The more mechanics that are locked away, the fewer risks developers take. You might not notice it immediately, but the industry slowly grows safer, blander, and less adventurous. Creativity thrives when ideas are free to spread. It dies when basic verbs of play are locked behind glass.
And above all, this is about principle. Summoning a helper to fight is not an invention. It is a trope. It is a design convention as old as Final Fantasy summons and WoW hunter pets. Watching Nintendo wrap legal barbed wire around it should make players laugh, then groan, then ask why we keep letting corporations pull this off.
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