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Palworld removes its monster glider mechanics in concession to Nintendo

Instead of using a Pal to glide over the terrain, players will simply have a glider from now on.

TJ Denzer

May 8, 2025 9:17 AM

Image via Pocketpair

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A major update has come to Palworld almost entirely as a consequence of the ongoing legal battle between developer Pocketpair, Nintendo, and The Pokemon Company. Recently, Pocketpair pushed an update to Palworld that took out ability to use Pal monsters to glide through the air from high place. Players will now have a glider to do this instead, taking the monster out of the equation, except for passive stat boosts.

Pocketpair announced this change, the reasoning, and how it will affect Palworld in a post on the game’s social media this week. Pocketpair makes no qualms about putting the blame on the litigation against it, citing it as the primary reason for the change, and how it affect’s Palworld’s quality:

[Regarding the lawsuit, changes to Palworld and the future]

We would like to express our sincere gratitude and appreciation for the continued support of our fans over the past few months. We apologize for not being able to share as much information as we would like, but we trust…

— Palworld (@Palworld_EN) May 8, 2025

Pocketpair also reiterates that back in November 2024, it was forced to get rid of mechanics in which players threw ball objects to summon their monsters. Afterwards, bringing out monsters simply summoned them to players’ sides. This was also a direct result of the court battle with Nintendo.

With Pocketpair having to make these concessions to keep Palworld alive, it remains to be seen if it will hold up in its court battles with Nintendo. Throughout the process, Nintendo has asserted that Palworld infringed on several of its copyrights. Pocketpair has argued against the broadness and timing of filing on Nintendo’s patents, but if these changes are any indication, the developer may not be getting the results it hoped for in court.

As this latest change goes into effect in Palworld, stay tuned to the Pocketpair topic for more updates on the game and legal battle.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on BlueSky @JohnnyChugs.