2024’s first major breakout hit for video games is Palworld, the Pokémon-like survival game that everyone seems to be playing by becoming the most-played game on Steam and selling over five million copies in three days. Despite its success, the game is being accused of plagiarism due to the Pals’ striking similarity to the pokémon. Many in the video game community were wondering when and if Nintendo or the Pokémon Company would take any legal action against the game considering their track record. Recently, Nintendo took down a Palworld mod that turned the game into Pokémon. Now, The Pokémon Company has released an official statement on the game and confirmed that they have launched an investigation on whether or not Palworld did indeed infringe on its IP rights.
“We have received many inquiries regarding another company’s game released in January 2024,” The Polwmon Company said.
“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.”
The accusations of plagiarism grew over the weekend when an anonymous X/Twitter account posted comparisons of Palworld’s 3D models and those of Pokémon saying that the proportions are nearly identical.
Two experienced AAA game artists spoke to VGC and said the comparisons on X were likely evidence that the models were in fact, based on Pokémon assets.
“You cannot, in any way, accidentally get the same proportions on multiple models from another game without ripping the models. Or at the very least, tracing them meticulously first,” one senior character artist told VGC anonymously, adding: “I would stand in court to testify as an expert on this.”
David Hansel, an intellectual property and digital media lawyer at Hansel Henson, said that if its proven that the assets were taken from Pokémon games, it would represent a “smoking gun” for any legal case brought forward by The Pokémon Company. Takuro Mizobe, Palworld Director and CEO of developer Pocketpair has since responded to the accusations against the game.
“We make our games very seriously, and we have absolutely no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property of other companies,” he said to Japanese site Automation.