The creators of Pokémon have issued a statement in which they assure that they will investigate accusations of plagiarism in Palworld. The Japanese company The Pokémon Company says they have received many questions regarding this game and have decided to take action on the matter. Palworld is the first viral phenomenon of 2024. In less than six days it has sold more than eight million units and has broken records for simultaneous players on Steam.
“A Pokémon with guns,” is how many users define the new title from the Japanese studio Pocket Pair. It is a meme that has grown until the game has become a real success. The truth is that Palworld is much more than a blatant plagiarism of Pokémon, it is a mix of all those mechanics that the general public falls in love with: survival, creation, hunting monsters, resource management and online multiplayer. All for less than 30 euros and without micropayments.
The accusations of plagiarism come from the so-called “Pals”, fantastic creatures that live in the world of Palworld. Like the Pokémon games, players can hunt and collect them and then battle other trainers. In addition, there are clear similarities between many of these “Pals” and well-known Pokémon, as noted by this X user:
In its statement, The Pokémon Company says the following: “We have received many inquiries about a game from another company published 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 action to address any acts that infringe intellectual property rights related to Pokémon.”
Nintendo and its subsidiaries are known for having zero tolerance for copyright infringement. They have dozens of cases related to piracy portals of old games, YouTube channels that use images of their games or licensed music, or developers who “take inspiration from” – or directly plagiarize – their titles.
It is difficult to know how this will end and to what extent what Palworld has done may be a crime. We can talk about ethical considerations about taking too much inspiration from other games or designing characters in your game using generative AI. But to what extent is it illegal? With eight million copies sold, the success and controversies with Palworld have only just begun. Now it's time to keep track of them closely.
