{"id":63099,"date":"2022-09-01T19:49:59","date_gmt":"2022-09-01T19:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/pokemon-sues-six-companies-for-making-millions-off-similar-game\/"},"modified":"2022-09-01T19:49:59","modified_gmt":"2022-09-01T19:49:59","slug":"pokemon-sues-six-companies-for-making-millions-off-similar-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/pokemon-sues-six-companies-for-making-millions-off-similar-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Pok\u00e9mon Sues Six Companies For Making Millions Off Similar Game"},"content":{"rendered":"
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screenshot: The Pok\u00e9mon Company<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Pok\u00e9mon Company has filed a lawsuit against six Chinese companies over a mobile game<\/span> for \u201ccopyright infringement and unfair competition behavior.\u201d It is claiming over $72 million in damages and demanding public apologies on major social media platforms, gaming websites, and app stores. The proposed apology tour will include Sina.com, Tencent.com and NetEase.com, as well as on major mobile app stores.<\/p>\n

Originally reported by The South China Morning Post<\/em><\/span>, Pocket Monster Reissue <\/em>is a mobile game where you collect not-Pok\u00e9mon and battle them in a turn-based system that features artwork with \u201csimilarities\u201d to popular characters from the Pok\u00e9mon<\/em> franchise, like Ash Ketchum. Gameplay videos on Chinese video sites<\/span> show that most of the trainable monsters are original designs, but one video<\/span> featured an unedited Clefable and Granbull. I also caught a glimpse of a character who appeared to be N from Pok\u00e9mon Black<\/em> and white<\/em>. Kotaku<\/em> has reached out to Nintendo for a comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.<\/p>\n

Pocket Monster Reissue <\/em>has been operating on major Chinese app stores since 2015, according to a stock exchange filing by one of the defendants, Jiangyin Zhongnan Heavy Industries Co. The game made over $4 million a month in its first year, and the company’s profits have increased every year. Ever since the lawsuit was announced, the game and industrial pipe maker (I know!) has seen a 6 percent tumble<\/span> in stock price.<\/p>\n

Pok\u00e9mon<\/em> has only recently begun officially making inroads into the Chinese market. Pok\u00e9mon Sun <\/em>and moon <\/em>were the first games that received an official Chinese port<\/span>. Pok\u00e9mon<\/em> go<\/em> has been banned since 2017 over traffic safety concerns, but that hasn’t stopped<\/span> Chinese players from finding workarounds<\/a><\/span> to play the game anyway. Even after decades without official game releases, Pok\u00e9mon<\/em> work immensely popular<\/span> in China. My own childhood summers were filled with bootleg trading cards and plastic toys, so it’s unsurprising that Reissue<\/em> made millions off of the IP every year. <\/p>\n

Kotaku<\/em> reached out to Jiangyin Zhongnan Heavy Industries to ask if they anticipated Nintendo’s response when the game was originally released, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.<\/p>\n

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Up to 90% off<\/p>\n

Humble Bundle’s Summer Sale<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Game and Save<\/strong>
Great news for PC gamers out there looking to save money and add more games to your backlog which you’ll eventually get to. Humble Bundle has kicked off its Summer Sale in which you can save up to 90% on games.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Hopefully, Zhongnan Heavy Industries sticks to making metal pipes instead of video games.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n