The Pokémon Company has released a statement promising to “investigate” any and all titles that infringe on their intellectual property rights following the release of Palworld earlier this month.
Developed by Pocketpair, Palworld tasks players with using a variety of creatures known as Pals to build, fight or collect.
Since it was announced, the survival game has been compared to Pokémon with creators telling NME: “We were surprised by the comparisons to be honest, especially those labeling it as ‘Pokémon with guns’. Pokémon definitely inspired us, but Palworld is far more action-orientated in comparison.”
They went on to say they were more inspired by the likes of Rust, Minecraft and ARK: Survival Evolved.
Earlier this week, an unofficial Pokémon mod was revealed for Palworld but footage was quickly taken down due to a Nintendo copyright strike. Now The Pokemon Company has released a statement.
Titled “Inquiries Regarding Other Companies’ Games”, the statement reads: “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,” it continued.
#Palworld has sold over 8 million copies in less than 6 days!
Thank you very much!!
As stated previously, we continue to work at full-speed on addressing bugs and issues!
Thanks for your support!#Pocketpair pic.twitter.com/4PLB1J4CYH— Palworld (@Palworld_EN) January 25, 2024
It comes as a demake of Portal was shut down by Valve earlier this month after fears of legal action from Nintendo.
The former chief legal officer of The Pokémon Company has also criticised Palworld. “This looks like the usual ripoff nonsense that I would see a thousand times a year when I was chief legal officer of Pokémon. I’m just surprised [Palworld] got this far,” Don McGowan said.
Despite the criticism, Palworld has sold over 8million copies since it launched in Early Access and could be coming to PS5 according to PlayStation head of indies Shuhei Yoshida.
In other news, Nintendo has announced that it will be streaming both a Legend Of Zelda concert and a Splatoon concert next month.