There's relatively very few(none I can think of) western RPGs that center around the player being able to capture and/or train monsters and battle with them. I think an RPG where you battle together with your captured monsters would be cool
Because animal fighting has been so thoroughly outlawed and suppressed in the public eye that children have no exposure to it and therefore see no reason to make a virtual cartoon version of it when they grow up. Meanwhile, dogfighting is still legal in most of Japan and famblies can go out and watch a dogfight, so children can see that and desire to play such a game and grow up to want to make such a game.
I'm seeing videos about how Pickmon's developer will be sued but don't see any active lawsuit against them, yet...
What are the chances that makes it to market?
Nintendo went after PocketPair for Palworld because the developers were Japanese, where the Japanese courts would favor Nintendo.
Pickmon is developed by PocketGame, a Chinese developer. Nintendo has no hope of winning against a Chinese company in Chinese courts. That's why Mihoyo is making Honkai Nexus Anima.
I'm seeing videos about how Pickmon's developer will be sued but don't see any active lawsuit against them, yet...
What are the chances that makes it to market?
Nintendo went after PocketPair for Palworld because the developers were Japanese, where the Japanese courts would favor Nintendo.
Pickmon is developed by PocketGame, a Chinese developer. Nintendo has no hope of winning against a Chinese company in Chinese courts. That's why Mihoyo is making Honkai Nexus Anima.
This really is it. Nintendo is a market giant and it's very hard to make a creature collector game that can compete, even with Nintendo being very slow on the uptake as far as graphics went in the last few decades.
PalWorld was a pretty harsh wak-up call for them, and even with their lawsuits it seems they won't be able to actually stop the game. Even the very friendly Japanese courts and patent office handed them a loss when Nintendo tried to copyright mechanics that existed long before Nintendo used them.
That's why Mihoyo is making Honkai Nexus Anima.
That and the fact that Mihoyo really struck gold when they released Genshin Impact. That and Star Rail are crazy money spinners. It also helps that MiHoYo itself is controlled by only three people who get along very well (they are three school friends who founded the company together) with only 15% outside owned, so the company is very willing to experiment and invest in more diverse gaming niches.
Last edited by SoLong on March 16th, 2026, 14:29, edited 1 time in total.
