Clarifying Creativity: The Pokémon Company Responds to Palworld Plagiarism Claims with Official Statement

The burgeoning controversy surrounding Palworld, the widely-discussed action-adventure survival game, has taken a legal turn as The Pokémon Company, steward of the renowned Pokémon franchise, issued an official statement on the plagiarism allegations surrounding the game’s in-game creatures. While the statement tactfully avoids directly naming Palworld, it explicitly addresses the concerns, stating, “We have received many inquiries regarding another company’s game released in January 2024.” The Pokémon Company categorically denies granting any permission for the utilization of Pokémon intellectual property or assets in the game in question, strongly hinting at Palworld.

Palworld, which gained immense popularity upon its early access release on January 19 and quickly climbed the ranks on Steam charts, has sold over eight million copies, according to developers Pocketpair. In response to the plagiarism accusations,

The Pokémon Company has asserted its commitment to investigating potential instances of copyright infringement associated with the game. The statement emphasizes the company’s dedication to safeguarding the integrity of the Pokémon brand and its intellectual property rights, signaling an intent to take appropriate measures against any violations.

The Pokémon Company, managing the intellectual property rights of Pokémon, a global media juggernaut with an estimated revenue of $88 billion, is co-owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures. Nintendo, known for its stringent approach to protecting franchise rights, has a history of legal action in defense of its intellectual property. This includes potential actions against Palworld PC mods that transform in-game creatures into actual Pokémon, as indicated by a modder whose gameplay video was taken down, with the modder noting that “Nintendo has come for me” earlier in the week. As the controversy unfolds, the Pokémon Company remains resolute in its commitment to preserving the unique world of Pokémon and its associated intellectual property.

Palworld has been surrounded by plagiarism allegations since its release, with several gamers, game developers and Internet commentators pointing out uncanny similarities between the creature design of the game and that of Pokémon. An X user even went as far as to compare 3D models from Palworld and Pokémon games side-by-side, pointing out resemblances in specific creatures.

Back-and-forth discussions over the limits of inspiration and what constitutes plagiarism in gaming have since raged on, with several developers weighing in. Some have defended Palworld, noting the derivative nature of the medium and claiming that Pocketpair’s survival title contains enough original ideas, in addition to effectively mashing together elements from popular games like Ark: Survival Evolved, Fortnite, Rust and Pokémon.

Meanwhile, Pocketpair confirmed Thursday morning that Palworld had sold over eight million copies in less than six days. The game continues to be a sensation even with the cloud of plagiarism accusations hanging above. Palworld is currently the most played game on Steam with a 24-hour peak concurrent player count of a whopping 2,018,905. It is now only behind PUBG: Battlegrounds in the list of all-time most played games on Valve’s platform.

Palworld features Pokémon-style animals, or Pals, that can be captured and tamed for combat, traversal and base building in the game’s open world, thus attracting the moniker “Pokémon with Guns.” The game is available on PC (via Steam), Xbox One and Xbox Series S/X and is also included with Xbox Game Pass.