Palword’s viral Pokemon mod is on ice until the creator figures out how to release it and simultaneously “avoid a lawsuit”

The creator of a viral Palworld mod that brought Pokemon and company to the new hit survival game says they still want to release it – they just have to figure out how to avoid a Nintendo lawsuit first. 

Toasted Shoes explains on YouTube that plans to release the Palworld x Pokemon mod are on ice as Nintendo has issued a DMCA strike against a tweet teasing their latest YouTube video. The video has gone live as planned, though you'll have to wait a little bit longer to play the mod it shows off.

"I've had countless messages over the last 24 hours regarding the Palworld Pokemon mod pack and where you can get it," they say. "Today, Nintendo hit me with a DMCA strike on Twitter over the mod pack and could very much do the same to me on YouTube. 

"Right now we are not releasing the mod pack due to the possible legal repercussions that could ensue. We want to release it for free and give you all a chance to play it, we just need to try go about it the right way to avoid a lawsuit."

The 16-minute video delivers on what the tease implied. The mod swaps the player character to Ash Ketchum and introduces plenty of familiar pocket pals – yes, Pikachu gets sent to the mines and it's very harrowing. Plot-wise, we go from Palworld's starter area to the first boss, which is none other than Jessie from Team Rocket. 

What's different from the teaser is that the sounds have been switched around, too. Ash sounds like their character from the anime – though I don't recall the episode where they talk about potentially having a "huge bender" the night before. You've also got plenty of familiar sounds from the Pokemon themselves. 

The mod comes amid discourse in the industry over whether Palworld has taken enough from Pokemon to invite legal issues. The short of it is that plenty of visual character designs appear like copied homework, though creature models that appear nearly identical might be an issue. 

The CEO of Palworld developer PocketPair has commented more broadly on the accusations, saying, "We have absolutely no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property of other companies." 

While Nintendo has stopped short of offering comment, a former head of The Pokemon Company's legal team says they are "just surprised it got this far."

With over 1.8 million concurrent players, Palworld tops a huge Counter-Strike 2 Steam milestone.