Pocketpair is aiming to release Palworld 1.0 in 2026, despite the company’s ongoing legal battle with Nintendo. But "there’s a lot of cleanup that needs to be done before Palworld can exit early access," Bucky explained. In September 2024, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed a lawsuit against Pocketpair over alleged similarities between the Pokémon games and Palworld. Nintendo accused the Palworld developer of infringing "multiple patent rights," and in November 2024, Pocketpair shared the demands from the lawsuit and the patents it’s accused of infringing. In an analysis for GamesIndustry.biz, MBHB associate Andrew Velzen speculated that Nintendo designed these patents "with the intention of targeting Palworld."