Following weeks afterNintendoissued a lawsuit againstPalworlddeveloper Pocketpair, Sega has filed a lawsuit, also in Tokyo District Court, against mobile game developer Bank of Innovation alleging patent infringement. It’s the same court and the same reasoning Nintendo brought to its lawsuit.Segais making the claim that the Bank of Innovation game Memento Mori, and other, less-popular titles in the company’s portfolio violate five different patents.Each patent violation is directly related to gacha-related game mechanics, including a specific process used to fuse character cards.
Gacha games are a major business in Japanand are frequently the best-earning games each year, significantly outpacing Triple-A console releases. Typical gacha games are, like Memento Mori, idle-based RPGs filled with different types of currencies used to buy pulls from different item pools, with naturally, the more rare and better items/characters/skins requiring premium currency. This has been referred to as predatory game design by politicians, therapists and addiction counselors, who consider it to be a type of gambling. The debate over gacha games is similar to the lootbox controversy of last generation, which eventually faded away to give rise to theBattlepass system, though you’re able to argue which system is truly worse.
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Sega is seekingdamages that amount to 1 billion yen, or roughly $6,672,270. In 2022, Bank of Innovation earned over $40 million during Memento Mori’s first month on sale, and even with those eye-popping numbers, the company is considered to be small for the mobile gacha space. The game did attract attention from analysts and investors upon release thanks to in-app prices that were significantly beyond the industry standard, which contributes to its high rate of return compared to its download numbers.
First Nintendo, now Sega as Patent Lawsuits heat up
Though it seems strange, Nintendo and Sega aren’t the only companies to have patents on gameplay mechanics.
Last month, Nintendo rocked the gaming world by taking Palworld developer Pocketpair to court over an alleged patent infringement overcapturing monsters by throwing balls at them. Though it seems strange,Nintendo and Sega aren’t the only companies to have patents on gameplay mechanics. Infamously, the hit Nemesis system fromMiddle-earth: Shadow of Mordorhas been patented byWarner Bros. Interactive, which explains why no one else has utilized the innovative system. Similarly,Bandai Namco Studioshad a patent for nearly two decades on playable minigames during loading screens.
Notably, Sega recently announced that their upcoming mobile gameSonic Rumblewould not include any gacha gameplay mechanics. The reason given at the time is that they wanted to appeal to a worldwide audience, and outside of Asia, gacha mechanics are frowned upon, and in some cases, are being targeted by politicians, mostly in the European Union.Sega may not plan on using its own patents in their upcoming mobile title, but that doesn’t mean anyone else can use them either, which is likely the case that they will be arguing in Tokyo District Court when the lawsuit goes to trial.
Source:Otaku Research Institute
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