Earlier this month, a monster-catching survival game titled Palworld took Steam by storm. The action-survival game by Japanese developer Pocket Pair has sold over 8 million copies and has been topping Steam's "Top Selling" and "Most Played" charts all week, and as of the time of this writing, Palworld reached 2 million concurrent players in the first six days of early access, twice as many as Counter-Strike 2 (the second title on the list).
The Pokemon Company has finally released an official statement regarding the new game, saying, that they "intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon." While the company doesn't specifically write Palworld by name, it's clear that this statement is in response to the survival game's incredible success and claims that many of the creatures (Pals) in Palword look too similar to existing Pokémon.
"We have received many inquiries regarding another company’s game released in January 2024," The Pokemon Company stated. "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."
In a recent interview with Automation, Pocket Pair CEO Takuro Mizobe said that the team "has cleared legal reviews," and there had been no action taken against the developer for infringement.
"We make our games very seriously, and we have absolutely no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property of other companies," Mizobe added.
A modder known as Toasted Shoes, who replaced Palworld's Pals with Pokemon, claimed that “Nintendo has come for me” after a takedown of a tweet. The modder shared a teaser on X that shows a clip featuring Pokémon’s Ash Ketchum in place of Palword's player character, as well as iconic Pokémon such as Pikachu replacing Pals.
PCGamesN reported that the modding site Nexus Mods is "not comfortable" hosting Pokémon-related mods for Palworld, and The Pokémon Company's officially statement is likely to further discourage these types of modding efforts.
Pocket Pair insisted that Palword is much closer to the likes of survival crafting games such as Ark Survival Evolved and Valheim than Pokémon, but that hasn't stopped fans from bashing the game for its resemblance to the iconic monster-catching franchise.
Although Palworld's actual gameplay is significantly different from Nintendo's series, gamers have debated on social media around the clear influence its character designs have taken from Pokémon, and whether it could be seen as plagiarism.
Despite these issues, Palworld's record-breaking sales and positive reviews are contributing to the game's breakout success.
Palworld is currently priced at $26.99 on Steam, and the Soundtrack Bundle costs $31.33.
