Palworld, Patents, and the Spiraling Image of Nintendo
The Fall of the Mushroom Kingdom Once upon a time, Nintendo was the whimsical grandpa of the gaming world—charming, quirky, a little out of touch, but ultimately harmless. Fast-forward to 2025, and that same grandpa is now shaking you down for $70+ per game, threatening to brick your console, and siccing their legal team on anyone who dares draw Pikachu with too much ambition. What happened? Nintendo used to be synonymous with innovation, magic, and—dare we say it—joy? But lately, the company seems more focused on locking down profits than leveling up gameplay. It’s like they accidentally speedran the “EA-ification” of their brand. Remember when they were the plucky “good guys”? Yeah. Me neither. In the last few months alone, Nintendo has gone full chaos mode: slapping next-gen price tags on games that probably won’t even have functional voice chat, […]
