As a survival crafting game, Palworld’s core gameplay loop has little in common with Pokemon, but with its monster taming and battling mechanics, as well as the names and designs of many of its monsters, the game has more than a little in common with the beloved property. On that front, in fact, it shares so many similarities with Pokemon that many have accused it of having plagiarized from the franchise.
In fact, shortly after Palworld came out and turned into an unexpected revelation, The Pokemon Company said it would “investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to Pokémon“. According to Palworld developer Pocketpair, however, no official complaint has yet been filed.
Speaking to Game File, when asked about whether Pocketpair had received any commination from The Pokemon Company related to the matter, Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe said, “Nothing at all. Nintendo and The Pokemon Company didn’t say anything to us. Of course I love Pokemon and respect it. I grew up with it, in my generation.”
Whether that means The Pokemon Company and Nintendo decided that there was no actual case of copyright and trademark infringement, or if the companies are yet to take action on a case that’s being worked on behind-the-scenes is anyone’s guess- though the former might seem more likely at this stage.
Interestingly enough, Mizobe recently also spoke about a potential Switch release for Palworld, saying that it would be difficult due to “technical reasons”. A PS5 version of the survival game, however, is seemingly being teased.
Palworld is currently available in early access on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC. It recently saw the release of a major free update.
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