Recently, the creators of Palworld — a survival game with creatures reminiscent of Pokémon — faced Nintendo's lawyers. According to a specialist, the miHoYo (HoYoverse) team may also encounter problems due to their new game.
They recently presented a new promo for Honkai Nexus Anima — the game shows some features reminiscent of the Pokemon franchise.
Intellectual property consultant Florian Müller, who is following the legal battle between Nintendo and the creators of Palworld, suggested that miHoYo's new game may infringe one of Nintendo's patents.
The patent in question is «JP7528390» — a patent that covers «riding flying objects». Initially, it only described the possibility of smoothly switching between different riding creatures, but Nintendo made amendments during the legal proceedings — now the patent applies to any mechanic that allows a player to summon and ride a flying creature.
Judging by the promo, the current version of Honkai Nexus Anima features both land and flying creatures — they can be ridden, which may provoke claims from lawyers.
However, the consultant also believes that Nintendo's patented mechanic is «so elementary that it would be wrong to prohibit all other game developers from using it».