Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have filed a lawsuit in Tokyo District Court against Japanese video game studio Pocketpair, alleging that its parody shooter game Palworld is violating intellectual property laws.

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company filed a lawsuit against "Pokémon with guns" game Palworld this week, officially kicking off a fight that's been looming since January. Now Palworld developer Pocketpair has responded, claiming it has no idea why it's being sued. This actually isn't as absurd as it sounds.

Nintendo and the Pokemon Company's lawsuit against fellow creature-collectathon Palworld is for patent infringement, rather than copyright infringement, and one analyst reckons that means Nintendo has "given up" on trying to argue that Pals look too similar to Mons.