With over eight million units sold and having become Steam’s second-highest concurrently played game to date (with a peak of over 2 million concurrent players), Palworld has taken the world by storm. It’s success, however, has also gone hand-in-hand with accusations of plagiarism, with the similarities of its monster designs to those of the Pokemon series having been a major point of discussion.
As you may expect, The Pokemon Company is well aware of those similarities, and has finally issued an official statement regarding the same, saying that it “intends to investigate” Palworld, and if it deems it to have infringed Pokemon’s intellectual property rights, that it will “take appropriate measures” to address any such infringements.
“We have received many inquiries regarding another company’s game released in January 2024,” The Pokemon Company wrote in its statement. “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 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.”
Thus far, Palworld developer Pocketpair has made no statements directly addressing allegations of plagiarism, though many users online have pointed to evidence that potentially points to the game have based its monster designs on assets taken from Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, while the use of generative AI has also been brought up as a possibility.
How this situation progresses remains to be seen, but we’ll be keeping a close eye on it, so stay tuned for more details in the coming days and weeks.
