New Nintendo patent could banish summons in FFXIV

[Dagget]

Nintendo just got a patent approved that basically describes how to summon creatures to fight for you...

https://www.windowscentral.com/gamin...dreds-of-games

[Carin-Eri]

Probably a much bigger concern for indie companies than the likes of SE or Blizzard.

[ViinaS]

Tbh all that patent grabbing from Nintendo is just pure bullshit.
They were not the first one to do something they claim patent over. Like for none of them.

The fact it was approved just shows you can patent stuff you don't own with enough money decades later.
All to try and keep competition down while the Pokemon games nowadays range from boring and cheap garbage to broken and unplayable garbage.

Not to mention how video game mechanics shouldn't be patentable, full stop.
Sadly bribes, corruption and probably people working at the patent office that never saw a Video Game do a lot of damage.

Tho if SE could stop pushing out cash shop items, throw money at failing projects and instead sue Nintendo for that patent, as summoning was a key part of FF and Dragon Quest way before Pokemon even existed...

[Carin-Eri]

Tbh all that patent grabbing from Nintendo is just pure bullshit.
They were not the first one to do something they claim patent over. Like for none of them.

The fact it was approved just shows you can patent stuff you don't own with enough money decades later.
All to try and keep competition down while the Pokemon games nowadays range from boring and cheap garbage to broken and unplayable garbage.

Agreed - but unfortunately no-one seems to want to challenge them over it. Their legal team seem to have quite the reputation and a seemingly unlimited amount of money....

[VeyaAkemi]

This patent specifically refers to the autobattler Let's Go feature, while I generally agree that patent abuse should go die in a fire, I also think Nintendo has my full support of this patent means that no other game will ever have this absolute dogshit feature, they can keep it.

[Jeeqbit]

It doesn't apply if you fight with the summons, only if they battle instead of you. So only old FF games might fall under that and those summonings are only temporary. They won't go after old FF games anyway.

A lot of big companies have useless patents that wouldn't hold up in court, such as for internet polls, which predate their own company's formation. Companies get greedy and delusional like that.

[Kohashi]

This patent specifically refers to the autobattler Let's Go feature, while I generally agree that patent abuse should go die in a fire, I also think Nintendo has my full support of this patent means that no other game will ever have this absolute dogshit feature, they can keep it.

Patented concepts in the game industry are extremely detrimental because a great deal of innovation in games stems from copying from other games and putting your own twist on them. If patented would have been a widespread tactic, WoW wouldn't have even been a thing, for example, FF14 either..

As for a company that I absolutely despise, Nintendo sure takes first place for me. Watch them patent pigeons or some shit next.

[Uzephi]

This patent specifically refers to the autobattler Let's Go feature, while I generally agree that patent abuse should go die in a fire, I also think Nintendo has my full support of this patent means that no other game will ever have this absolute dogshit feature, they can keep it.

Have you read the patent? It plainly shows the classic pokemon battlefield, not an auto battler. Some diagrams show throwing the pokeball to summon on the field and even sub menus for attack, item, etc. please don't spread misinformation. Here's the patent links for your research: https://gamesfray.com/wp-content/upl...2025-09-02.pdf

Edit: "In the configuration of the any one of above (1) to (9), in a battle by the first mode, a plurality of commands including at least an attack by the sub character on the enemy character and capture of the enemy character may be designated based on an operation input, and motions of the player character and/or the sub character corresponding to the designated commands may be executed."

Sending commands for battle doesn't sound like an auto battler to me... Sounds like I'm opening the attack menu and selecting from the four moves that sub character has... Like a classic pokemon battle.

[RedLolly]

It absolutely nukes the concept of a "pet job" in games that aren't Nintendo approved.

The current Chocobo companion system fully violates that patent, and the hints we have about Beastmaster also sounds like it does. Shoot, Scholar likely violates it.

This is VERY BAD. I love Pokemon to bits, but oh no no no.

[VeyaAkemi]

Have you read the patent? It plainly shows the classic pokemon battlefield, not an auto battler. Some diagrams show throwing the pokeball to summon on the field and even sub menus for attack, item, etc. please don't spread misinformation. Here's the patent links for your research: https://gamesfray.com/wp-content/upl...2025-09-02.pdf

Have you? the diagrams explicitly show a secondary entity, obviously meant to be the Pokemon, moving independently and attacking other entities in the field, the absolute closest it gets to the normal Pokemon battle system is sheet 9, which simply depicts a player selecting a directive goal to the autobattling segment, a bit further in scope than the Let's Go feature in Scarlet & Violet, but still within the concept, then every subsequent sheet is just a depiction of the Let's Go feature 1:1, something anyone who played Scarlet & Violet can tell.

I want to be clear, I was being facetious about it being a good thing, I just wanted to talk shit on that feature, but it is also very explicitly what the patent is about.