The Pokémon Company issued a statement regarding Palworld and similarities to the Pokémon monsters.
The release of Palworld on January 19 has taken the gaming communities by storm, within the first six days after its initial early access release, the game had sold over 8 million units and reached an estimated 2 million concurrent players on Steam. Shortly after the rise in popularity, players came down to dubbing the game “Pokémon with guns.” Pocketpair’s game has featured various monsters that can be captured and can equip weapons to battle it out with.
Aside from collecting monsters known as Pals, the goal of Palworld is to uncover the mysteries and secrets of Palpagos islands and build a base to craft the essentials such as tools and cooking to avoid starvation. As the controversies rise regarding the similarities between the creatures from Palworld and the Pokémon franchise, the Pokémon Company issued an official statement saying they fully intend to “investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts of infringement on intellectual property rights related to Pokemon.”
Although The Pokémon Company didn’t address Palworld by name, the statement mentioned that “another company’s game released in January 2024,” leaving readers of the statement little to no-doubt as to which game is intended for investigation.
In regards to the statement made by The Pokémon Company, it went as follows – “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”
Prior to the statement, Pocketpair’s CEO ,Takuro Mizobe stated that the Palworld team made sure to avoid any copyright infringements with Pokémon or other popular gaming franchises, while The Pokémon Company’s former chief legal officer had recently described Palworld as “ripoff nonsense.” In the end, this will be a make or break for both companies as the outcome will only be determined in time. However, Palworld still remains popular and played by many regardless of any accusations made against them.
