- 58,898
- 144,235
Stupid things games companies have been willing to sue for include
the irony of trying to be edgy about being sued for stupid things is that games companies have easily sued for stupid things like the concept of a minigame during a loading screen, Or an Arrow indicator.
Infamous Gameplay and Mechanic Patents
- The Loading Screen Minigame (Namco): Namco held a patent (US Patent 5,718,632) for "displaying an auxiliary game" while a primary game loaded. This meant playing a tiny minigame while waiting for Ridge Racer to load was patented, legally blocking other studios from using the feature until the patent expired in 2015. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
- The Crazy Taxi Arrow (Sega): Sega patented the arrow pointing players toward their objective in a driving game, stemming from Crazy Taxi. They successfully sued Fox Interactive over a similar mechanic in The Simpsons: Road Rage before the case eventually settled out of court. [1]
- The "Saga" Trademark/Name Dispute (King vs. Stoic): The makers of Candy Crush Saga attempted to trademark the word "Saga" and opposed the indie strategy game The Banner Saga, arguing consumers would be confused—despite the games being entirely different genres. [1]
- Monster-Catching and Ridable Companions (Nintendo vs. Pocketpair): Nintendo targeted Palworld using broad patents filed after the game's announcement (covering basic mechanics like aiming a projectile to capture a creature or seamlessly mounting a companion in real-time), though patent offices in the US and Japan later began rejecting many of these claims as obvious. [1]
- The Nemesis System (Warner Bros.): Warner Bros. secured a patent for the "Nemesis System" in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, which allows non-player characters to remember past interactions, hold grudges, and rise through ranks if they kill the player. This locked a revolutionary emergent storytelling mechanic away from the rest of the industry for years. [1, 2, 3]
Bizarre and Over-Broad Patent Attempts
- Bandai Namco's Ramping/Directional Prompts: Namco previously held a patent for displaying directional input arrows moving along a track rhythmically (common in rhythm games).
- Generic UI Prompts: Major companies have historically tried to patent generic actions like displaying a map during a loading screen, transitioning from sleep mode with a specific prompt, or basic camera angle shifting in 3D environments
the irony of trying to be edgy about being sued for stupid things is that games companies have easily sued for stupid things like the concept of a minigame during a loading screen, Or an Arrow indicator.

