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Game developers aren't buying that several Pokemon and Palworld creatures look alike by mere coincidence.
Since Palworld launched in Early Access last week, the survival game has frequently drawn comparisons to Pokemon for various reasons—some of the initial focus of comparisons focused on the similarities in several creature designs. While several Pals and 'mons look alike, the prevailing sentiment was that some homework was likely copied, but legal trouble was unlikely to follow – you can't copyright a sheep, after all.
However, the character models used for the similar pocket pals are now catching the eye of several developers. As Twitter user 'Byofrog' points out in several posts, plenty of models of similar-looking Pokemon and Pals have character models that are just as similar – not exact, but apparently quite close.
This "pal" from #Palword seems like it was probably a rip of serperior and primarina from #Pokemon pic.twitter.com/g8L8vBjbDGJanuary 21, 2024
"To 'accidentally' create a complex model mesh with so near-exact proportions is practically impossible," former Blizzard and PlayStation developer Eric Covington says. "To repeat that improbability throughout your roster… doesn't pass the sniff test."
Covington goes on to say that his thread isn't to "aim pitchforks" at the Palworld team but to provide a cautionary tale to those entering the industry. "Please do not cut corners," they say. "You increase the risk to your project, your company, and the credibility of your teammates and peers."
A Former Ubisoft and Detective Pikachu concept artist adds that "it's pretty hard to argue that this is just 'taking inspiration.'" When asked why Pokemon or Nintendo hasn't taken legal action yet, as Palworld has been in the public eye for years, they say: "Until seeing these models match so closely(which [The Pokemon Company] would only see upon release), I was also under the impression it was just a parody so they would be safe. This seems to be crossing the line from parody to actual infringement if they did actually use model rips as a base."
VGC has spoken to two other experienced AAA game artists, with one of them saying, "You cannot, in any way, accidentally get the same proportions on multiple models from another game without ripping the models. Or at the very least, tracing them meticulously first," before adding: "I would stand in court to testify as an expert on this."
At the time of writing, the CEO of Palworld developer PocketPair has shot down the legal concerns, saying, "We have absolutely no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property of other companies." Takuro Mizobe also says he's seen death threats and has asked people not to slander the artists working on the survival game.
Nintendo, meanwhile, has said that it's aware of Palworld's existence – in case you really doubted that – but said it wouldn't be commenting on "individual cases." As per Game File, That doesn't apply to former staffers, though, with a former head of The Pokemon Company's legal team saying it "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 it got this far."
It took less than 24 hours for Palworld's Pokemon mod to get hit by Nintendo's lawyers.
