The Pokémon Company Is Putting On Its Detective Pikachu Hat & Investigating ‘Palword’
Written by djfrosty on January 25, 2024
Source: CHRIS DELMAS / Getty / Palworld
The Pokémon Company has seen enough and is looking into the viral game Palworld.
2023 ended with a huge gaming scam with The Day Before. Could we be on the verge of seeing a popular video game being exposed for stealing early in 2024?
Since the arrival of Palworld and its meteoric rise, many have been keeping their eyes peeled and ears opened, wondering if The Pokémon Company would have anything to say about the obvious Pokémon-“inspired” survival game.
Thursday night, The Pokémon Company broke their silence on the matter. In a statement, the game studio says it will investigate Palworld and “take appropriate measures” if it finds anything that looks like the game infringes on its intellectual property.
Since launching in early access on Friday, Jan. 19, numerous claims of plagiarism have been lobbied at the game, specifically regarding the design of the Pals, the creatures players can capture, collect, and battle.
While the game is clearly a riff or parody on Pokémon, other gameplay designs like crafting, arming your characters, and Pals with guns, as well as base-building, put the game in the same breath as other survival titles like Valheim and Ark.
Still, that didn’t stop loyal fans of Pokémon from contacting The Pokémon Company. Like loss prevention at your favorite clothing store that allows thieves to steal so they can build a case, they are watching and seemingly letting Palworld do the same.
The statement reads in full:
We have received many inquiries regarding another company’s game released 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 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.
Nintendo has already shut down a Pokémon mod introduced into the PC version of the game, and the creator of the mod announced that the company notorious for coming after people for “abusing” its intellectual property did hit him up.
Speaking with Stephen Totilo of Game File, former head of The Pokémon Company’s legal team from 2008 to 2020, Don McGowan, shared his thoughts on Palworld, saying, “This looks like the usual ripoff nonsense that I would see a thousand times a year when I was Chief Legal Officer of Pokémon,” he said. “I’m just surprised it got this far.”
Palworld Is DOING NUMBERS
Despite all that, Palworld is doing insane numbers that titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 have done, but just in a matter of days.
On its official account, the game celebrated the milestone of selling over 8 million copies in less than six days, and that could be even more thanks to all the hoopla surrounding the game.
The game is also available on Xbox Game Pass, and we have no clue how many subscribers are playing it there, and that could also be in the millions.
We want to see how this plays out and if The Pokémon Company’s investigation exposes some bad faith acting on Palworld’s developer Pocketpair’s part.
Until then, the video game streets are talking. You can see those reactions below.