If there was ever a good moment to slip a bargain-bin mashup of Nintendo’s biggest IPs onto gaming marketplaces, it might be right now, as the Japanese entertainment giant gears up to battle the United States government in court over tariffs. Maaaaaybe Nintendo’s lawyers will be too busy filing briefs to notice another Pokémon-esque survival game starring a Breath of the Wild Link-like creeping onto Steam. Yeah… maybe…
Enter Pickmon, a newly revealed “multiplayer open-world survival crafter” from developer PocketGame and publisher NETWORKGO, the latter of which previously released the obscure fantasy title Hainya World. For a game so egregiously ripping off Nintendo properties, hand it to PocketGame for launching a trailer ahead of an unannounced release date! That takes guts.
According to its Steam page, Pickmon players will “dive into a vast, uncharted continent filled with ancient civilizations and mysterious creatures called ‘Pickmon.’” Surprisingly, players will team up with the monsters to fight enemies, gather resources, farm land, and build what the developers describe as sprawling “industrial empires.” So you get a little Palworld in there, too.
The twist, for any of Nintendo’s lawyers who are reading this, is that you use cards to tame the beasts. Thankfully for PocketGame, Nintendo does not own Yu-Gi-Oh.
However, Blizzard Entertainment can claim copyright on Roadhog from Overwatch, who is also in Pickmon‘s reveal trailer for some reason.
Traditionally, Nintendo has allowed little wiggle room for projects or companies that wander too close to its property. Nintendo is currently locked in a closely watched legal fight with Pocketpair, the studio behind Palworld, over what was seen as copyright infringement. The lawsuit — filed in November 2024 — hinges partly on patents related to monster-summoning mechanics commonly associated with Nintendo’s Pokémon franchise. But the legal battle has gotten more complicated over time. In November 2025, just weeks after Japanese authorities rejected Nintendo’s attempt to patent certain Pokémon-style monster-capture mechanics, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office took the unusual step of re-examining one of Nintendo’s previously granted patents.
Meanwhile, Nintendo has another courtroom fight brewing with the current U.S. government. The company recently filed suit in the United States Court of International Trade challenging tariffs imposed under executive orders from President Donald Trump. Nintendo argues the duties, implemented using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, were unlawful and is seeking refunds with interest on tariffs it paid as the importer of record for its products.
For a company known for aggressively defending its intellectual property, Nintendo doesn’t always win: Earlier this year, a grocery store named “Super Mario” in San Ramón, Costa Rica successfully defended its trademark against the gaming giant.
Still, given Nintendo’s track record — and its heightened scrutiny of monster-taming competitors — it’s hard to imagine Pickmon being long for this world. So enjoy (?) the trailer while you can.
