Nintendo Patents Watch

GVG and Jon asked an important question in the video above: Will the new EU packaging regulation (PPWR) force the Game Card packaging to change by 2030? I’ll sidestep few imprecise points conveyed in the video, and attempt to answer the question below.

First of all, the limitation of 50% “empty space” (img below) applies only to shipping boxes and grouped packaging, not “sales packaging” such as Game Card cases.

However, the sales packaging is still required to be “reduced to the minimum” (img 1 below), regardless of “marketing or consumer acceptance” (img 2). In other words, Nintendo cannot refuse to minimize the Game Card case just by saying “our customers like it”. They may, however, argue that the current packaging is “necessary to ensure its functionality”—e.g., to protect the Game Card and manual—and keep it unchanged.

There’s also an exemption that Nintendo might claim: packaging designs registered before 2025-02-11. This is another instance where Nintendo’s meticulous IP protection helps them, because (you guessed it) they did register the design of Game Card case on 2017-10-07 (imgs 1-2 below). It isn’t a get-out-of-jail-free card though. To claim the exemption, Nintendo needs to prove that minimization will alter the design’s novelty or character (img 3), not exactly a straightforward task.

Lastly, collectors of special editions might be glad to hear that there’s a carve-out for packaging intended for “gift purposes”, “seasonal events”, and other particularities (img below). It seems that you may still be able to purchase luxurious collectible boxes post 2030.

(sources in alt text)

[Originally posted on 2026-08-13 Pacific Time]