Nintendo was recently granted a patent, presumably related to the Pokémon franchise, that has been drawing a great amount of attention from those in the industry. This new patent, as well as the attention it has garnered, shows how the right patent filings can put competitors on notice.
Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, and other video game console makers are no strangers to the patent office. But US Patent No. 12,403,397, granted on September 2, 2025, is a prominent foray into patent claims that center on applied software. The patent, assigned to Nintendo and the Pokémon company, relates to systems and methods of “controlling a battle between the sub character and the enemy character.”
Many commenters have noted that this patent was allowed immediately after an initial examination, which is no easy feat because the Patent and Trademark Office typically preliminarily rejects most applications based on prior art or technical deficiencies that must be overcome. Here, however, the patent applicant successfully avoided subject matter eligibility issues that software-based patent applicants often must navigate. And, of course, the claims were distinguishable from any previous public disclosures the patent examiner was able to discover.
At first blush, the claims may seem quite far-reaching. But the independent claims do require very specific steps, such as “a first mode in which the battle proceeds based on an operation input”; “moving the sub character in a predetermined direction on the field, based on a second operation input”; and “controlling a battle between the sub character and the enemy character by a second mode in which the battle automatically proceeds.” Thus far, only Nintendo knows how it plans to assert these claims against infringers. But given the press this patent generated, competitors in the video game industry are now on notice to avoid the claimed subject matter.
Will patents such as this one become the norm for the video game industry? Only time will tell.
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