I think that's probably Nintendo's main goal with this lawsuit tbh. They know that they don't actually have a leg to stand on with game mechanics (unless they want to argue that cute cartoon creatures or throwing things are proprietary game mechanics) But a smaller studio spending millions to defend themselves in a massive lawsuit that will probably drag on for years? It means they can't spend all their money developing other games and will probably end up bankrupt (and no longer a threat to Nintendo).