This is a bit different situation than Nintendo and it's not fair to compare the two. The mod requires the base game where Nintendo software is hardware coupled. Furthermore, Bethesda has monetized mods directly (the Creation Club).
Let’s call a spade a spade. Nintendo litigates worse than any other company and they never drop prices. I can look the other way because they’re otherwise very good to their customers but they do have genuine faults.
Nintendo doesn't litigate if they believe the community project won't impact their sales/profits.
For example, wii homebrew is not taken down by nintendo, even if there has been a recent "discovery" that the wii homebrew had relied on decompiled nintendo SDKs.
Nintendo's litigious intention always has been profit driven (and this includes vaguely IP related issues, such as palworld's game mechanics - which i think is frivilous but apparently not according to the courts).
Nintendo sent cease and desists to streamed super smash Brothers melee tournaments during covid. Buncha free advertising to their IP by a group of their most passionate fans
Japanese companies don't like surprises or things they can't control, and often care about this more than money. They don't /want/ free advertising and have mixed feelings about passionate fans.
…Especially adult passionate fans of children's media.
> and this includes vaguely IP related issues, such as palworld's game mechanics - which i think is frivilous but apparently not according to the courts
Do you happen to have a link handy to an opinion document? It seems weird that Palworld’s “mechanics” would put them under fire but somehow development teams behind Tem Tem and Nexomon (and Cassette Beasts and Abomi Nation and ...) get away with selling games that are primarily about capturing and/or befriending different monster species and pitting them in fights against other monsters.
Pokemon didn't invent that, it's an actual Japanese children's hobby. Although they do it with stag beetles. You can see the realistic version in Boku no Natsuyasumi.
A funny thing about Nintendo games I've always noticed is how completely disconnected the fans are from the people making it. Like, people argue about Zelda games' lore and timelines and such, but Nintendo cares about this so little that BotW and TotK have the same plot even though one is a direct sequel.
I'd guess that zero of those "Zelda T-shirt and cargo shorts" people work at Nintendo and that almost none of their employees have had video game-themed weddings. (Well, the US office is in Seattle so that one's definitely possible.)
Pokemon is it's own weird situation. It's not solely owned by Nintendo, but co-owned and managed with Game Freak and Creatures Inc by The Pokemon Company. It's not just a game but a media empire. They have to coordinate between the game, anime and TCG. It's not quite the same as Zelda or Mario where they have complete control and don't have to worry about messing with dozens of other product launches if the game needs a delay.
I wouldn't agree that their other franchises are stale right now either. Certainly not compared to Ubi's, Microsoft's, etc.
Game Freak’s latest Nintendo offerings are subpar compared to somewhat open world offerings from the Wii generation like Xenoblade Chronicles and Breath of the Wild. They are just milking the Pokémon player base.
IDK, personally I had more fun with Scarlet/Violet and Legends Arceus than Xenoblade Chronicles (30 hours too long IMO). Technically they are both flawed but the game play is fun and they have made a lot of changes from past entries.
They do make amazing games though, for all the ones that they make. BOTW and TOTK are just so so special games to me (and I hope many others), and I have learnt by experience that almost no Nintendo game gets released half baked or lacking their best efforts.
In fairness, Pokémon is perhaps the worst case in game design difficulty. You have an audience insisting on 3D characters and animations for 400+ (or however many now) Pokémon, each necessitating ~6 animations for unique attacks, 5+ status effects, idling/reaction animations, and ideally some trainer interaction.
I understand why Nintendo has tried to use a lo-fi artstyle, make games with only subsets of the total bestiary, and generally limit development. Hell, I even understand why Palworld gave up on unique attack animations and just went with guns.
Honestly at this point they could go back to 151 and just do a good job filling them out and go from there. But all 3d games suffer from not being able to hand craft such a large 3d world but Pokémon is absolutely terrible at it. The Games look like they could have ran in the ps2 mid generation.
I personally loved how Scarlet/Violet was set in "Spain" but they were constantly giving up and just making it Japan. Like the school has a Japanese nurse's office and one of the bosses is an overworked salaryman.
> I can look the other way because they’re otherwise very good to their customers
I thought their customer support sucks ? In France they got a law suit because they refused to replace the joystick of their latest portable gaming machine when they had an insane rate of failure.
