With the launch of Palworld, a controversy broke out over Pokémon plagiarism and the use of AI tools.
With a mix of monster catching, survival and crafting, Palworld now delights more than five million players on Xbox and PC.
The game has been in early access or game preview since Friday and is now facing accusations of plagiarism.
Players accuse developer Pocketpair of the similarities to Pokemon, especially the character designs of the monsters, called Pal in the game.
The influences of Pokemon on Palworld in terms of characters are discussed online. Comparisons and possible identical features have been highlighted on social media:
Since I’m bored as hell, I’ll make a thread about it I think… Palworld design analysis trying to spot every Pokemon they messed up pic.twitter.com/Ch9jcx5hCI
– onion_mu (@onion_mu) January 18, 2024
Galarian Meow Face pic.twitter.com/fc6juxyEe9
— Barbie Elite4 (@Barbie_E4) January 18, 2024
The potential similarities in the monsters’ design also raise questions about the use of generative AI tools. Pocktpair developed the game AI: Art Imposter, in which an AI image generator is a core mechanic. So you know about it.
In the past, CEO Takuro Mizobe even praised the potential of such generators to create content. In 2021 he showed himself how new Pokémon designs can be created by AI.
According to the CEO’s own statement in a blog post, the 100 character concepts were developed by just one student.
You can now play Palworld in Game Pass for console and PC.
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