Honkai: Nexus Anima “infringes” on same Nintendo patent as Palworld according to expert

Honkai: Nexus Anima has been fully unveiled by HoYoverse, but according to a legal expert, the game “infringes” on one of the same patents that Nintendo has been suing Palworld over.

Since September 2024, Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have been tangled up in a lawsuit with Palworld developer Pocketpair. Nintendo sued the developer over multiple patent infringements, including the use of Pal Spheres, which they claimed were too similar to the iconic Poke Balls, causing them to be removed from Palworld.

Another major part of the case has been a dispute over the “mounting of flying objects,” which originally referenced being able to “smoothly switch” between different creatures. This patent was later amended by Nintendo while the case was still ongoing, to cover virtually any situation where a flying mount is summoned and ridden.

Now, another game features a very similar system to the one Palworld was sued over.

Nintendo’s mounts patent could affect Honkai: Nexus Anima

On August 29, HoYoverse, the team behind Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, revealed the first footage of their new game, Honkai: Nexus Anima. But according to legal expert Florian Mueller over at Games Fray, the mounts system shown off early in the footage is technically covered by Nintendo’s patent.

“Chinese game maker HoYoverse previewed in-game footage of an upcoming game named Honkai: Nexus Anima that clearly infringes the amended version of Nintendo’s smooth-switching-of-riding objects patent,” he said.

In-game footage from Honkai: Nexus Anima

*The game is under development, and subject to change.
*This Nexus Bond Test is available in 5 languages: Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English, Japanese, and Korean. Support for more languages will be added in the future.… pic.twitter.com/gayxpcVOYV

— Honkai: Nexus Anima (@HonkaiNA) August 29, 2025

However, Mueller argues that the patent is much too broad to be enforced, and the “bizarre” amendment makes it “a greater threat to the games industry at large.”

“One lesson to be learned from HoYoverse’s video is that Nintendo’s amended patent overreaches. It is a patent on simply being able to summon a flying object and mounting it,” he continued. “That is so basic that it cannot be right to prohibit all other game makers from implementing it.”

The lawsuit with Palworld is still ongoing, so we don’t know if they can actually force devs to remove the mounts system.

For a breakdown of all of the developments so far, check out our full Palworld and Nintendo lawsuit timeline.