Palworld’s early access launch was followed by an official announcement from The Pokemon Company one week later. The resemblance between Pocketpair’s survival game and Pokemon has generated a great deal of criticism since Palworld contains several critters that resemble the pocket monsters made popular by The Pokemon Company.
Palworld’s early access launch on January 19 captured the attention of the gaming community. The game sold nearly 8 million copies in its first six days of release, and 2 million people played it at once on Steam. One of the most played Steam games ever is Palworld. Since Pocketpair’s game includes a variety of monsters to catch that may equip weapons, players rapidly came to refer to Palworld as “Pokemon with guns.” In addition to gathering these creatures, dubbed Pals, the objective of Palworld is to decipher the mysteries of the Palpagos Islands and construct a base where one may make tools and prepare food to prevent starvation.
In response to growing controversy over the similarities between Pokemon and creatures from Palworld, The Pokemon Company released an official statement stating that it “intends to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokemon.” The Pokemon Company mentioned “another company’s game released in January 2024,” meaning it’s quite obvious whose game it plans to look into even if it didn’t mention Palworld specifically.
A Statement from The Pokemon Company Regarding Palworld
We have received many inquiries regarding another company’s game released in January 2024. We have not granted any permission for the use of Pokémon intellectual property or assets in that game. We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon. We will continue to cherish and nurture each and every Pokémon and its world, and work to bring the world together through Pokémon in the future.
Furthermore, mentioned in the statement is the fact that The Pokemon Company has never approved the usage of Pokemon assets in other games. Palworld’s founder and CEO, Takuro Mizobe, previously said that the team had taken care to ensure that there was no copyright infringement with Pokemon or other well-known game properties. However, a former chief legal officer of The Pokemon Company recently called Palworld “ripoff nonsense.”
Beyond the fact that both Palworld and Pokemon include a vast array of creatures to hunt down and combat, players discovered numerous more parallels between the two games. After a fan of both games made a hint about a Pokemon mod in Palworld that included Ash Ketchum and Pikachu, Nintendo sent a takedown notice for the video. Fans nonetheless draw comparisons between the two games, with some questioning why Nintendo never produced a more sophisticated version of Pokemon that had base-building elements and a multiplayer mode in an open-world survival game.
After Palworld’s enormous popularity, Pocketpair hinted at the game’s future. New features including PvP between players and their pals, boss raids, and more islands to explore and pals to capture will be added in future Palworld releases. Prioritizing the resolution of the various problems impeding Palworld to enhance the player experience as a whole was Pocketpair’s declaration before the release of these new features.
