Snorlax has awakened. The Pokémon Company has broken its silence Palworldthe hit Pokémon-inspired survival game said Thursday it intends to investigate the game and “take appropriate action” if it determines its intellectual property rights have been violated.
Accusations of plagiarism were made Palworld since its Early Access launch on Friday, January 19th, particularly in terms of the design of its Pals, creatures that players can collect, capture and fight. While the game features many elements foreign to the Pokémon series – weapons, crafting, base building and other features of popular survival games like Valheim And Ark – Many players comment on what they see as the striking similarities between Pals and Pokémon. And it seems that some of them have contacted The Pokémon Company about this.
“We have received many inquiries regarding another company’s game released in January 2024.” This is what the Pokémon Company said in its statement. It wasn’t mentioned Palworld mentioned by name, but there is no doubt which game it is.
“We have not granted permission for the use of Pokémon intellectual property or assets in this game. We intend to investigate and take appropriate action against any actions that violate intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon,” the company said ominously.
Then, in an abrupt change of tone that’s more reminiscent of the inspirational lyrics of a Pokémon theme song: “We will continue to value and promote each and every Pokémon and their world, and work to continue to bring the world together through Pokémon.”
The Pokémon Company is the organization that manages all licensing and publishing of Pokémon. It is a joint venture between Nintendo, Pokémon video game developer Game Freak, and Creatures, which develops the Pokémon trading card game. Like Nintendo, it is known for fiercely protecting its intellectual property. (Shortly before the Pokémon Company’s statement, Nintendo issued a warning against a Palworld Mod that added real Pokémon to the game.)
PalworldThe early access release of has received a phenomenal response. The game, developed and published by small Japanese indie studio Pocketpair, only took a few days to drop 2 million concurrent players on Steam. It struck CounterattackThe record 1.8 million is the second highest of all time PUBGThe long-standing record of 3.3 million players. The game is also available on Xbox and through a Game Pass subscription.
It is unknown whether The Pokémon Company was aware of this Palworld before its release – it was hardly developed in secret and the similarities to Pokémon have been clear for years. But in recent days, it has been impossible for the rights holder to ignore the game – even if it had wanted to – due to the game’s enormous financial success, its extremely high profile and the excitement surrounding it.
