A mod that turns Palworld into Pokémon has been struck by a Nintendo DMCA takedown within hours of the creator uploading videos about the mod to Twitter and YouTube. ToastedShoes, a modder and YouTuber known for creating cross-over mods in various games, posted a short clip of the mod to X, formerly Twitter on Monday. The video was quickly taken down, having been flagged by Nintendo for a DMCA takedown. ToastedShoes responded, saying
Nintendo has come for me.
Despite the takedown of the X clip, ToastedShoes uploaded the full YouTube video, which was also quickly taken down. Players who were able to see the video prior to the DMCA notice could see the titular Pals of Palworld, dubbed “Pokémon with Guns” by fans, replaced by 3D models of Pokémon straight from the games. Not only were the creatures taken from Pokémon, but the player character was replaced by Ash Ketchum, protagonist of the Pokémon anime series, and his two classic companions Misty and Brock appear as characters, with the first boss being replaced by Team Rocket’s Jessie.
Although many fans continued to ask ToastedShoes for the download link for the mod, others pointed out that the use of Pokémon assets in the game was clear grounds for a lawsuit. Moreover, others drew attention to the fact that ToastedShoes had historically kept his mod downloads behind a Patreon paywall, meaning the Pokémon Palworld mod could have been profiting off of copyrighted content.
The notice of the mod’s takedown comes amid fans wondering if Palworld itself will be hit with a similar lawsuit. However, Pocketpair, developers of Palworld do not believe their game infringes on Nintendo’ IP.