Despite shadow dropping in 68 other countries, Palworld on PS5 is indefinitely skipping Japan amid Nintendo's lawsuit

Palworld stealthily rolled onto PS5 yesterday during Sony's State of Play show – but, despite enjoying a launch in dozens of countries, the monster-tamer's PlayStation port is indefinitely skipping Japan.

"As announced in the official PlayStation State of Play, the PS5 version of Palworld was released today in 68 countries and regions around the world," developer Pocketpair's social media account explained, before noting that "the release date in Japan has not yet been decided."

"We apologize to everyone in Japan who was looking forward to it," the post continues, "but all of our staff will do our best to deliver it to PS5 users as soon as possible, so we hope you will wait for a little longer. We look forward to your continued support of Pal World."

It's an odd omission since Palworld is available in Japan on both Xbox Series X and PC. Pocketpair also seems eager to make the Japanese PS5 port happen at some point, but a certain headline-grabbing lawsuit might be to blame for the indefinite delay.

Nintendo recently announced that it was filing a lawsuit against Pocketpair in Tokyo, the city that both companies are based in, claiming the open-world survival game infringes on multiple patents rights specifically related to Pokemon.

Details of the lawsuit haven't been made public yet and so we're in the dark about what exact patents are in question, but many spectators have pointed to a certain patent related to throwing Pokeballs which may be the root of these legal troubles. Regardless, one analyst claimed that Nintendo owns so many seemingly innocuous patents that it could've sued half the industry in 2017 – and many more patents were apparently bolstered after Palworld's launch.

Regardless, it doesn't seem like we'll get a clean conclusion any time soon. Some experts have even speculated that the lawsuit is more likely to drag on over a five-year period rather than a simple 12-month dispute. So if the indefinite PS5 delay in Japan is down to the lawsuit, it probably won't see the light of day anytime soon.

Another analyst said that “Nintendo felt threatened” about Palworld’s expansion into anime and merch, which is where Pokemon makes the bulk of its bank.