The Pokemon Company seems to plan to "investigate" Palworld over the possibility of copyright infringement.
In a statement this morning, The Pokemon Company said that it has "received many inquiries regarding another company’s game released in January 2024." While that's not confirmed to be Palworld, there are few other games that are likely to have attracted that much attention from the team behind Pokemon - eyebrows have been raised about the similarities between certain Pals and certain Pokemon since Palworld dropped into early access last week.
The Pokemon Company goes on to say that "we have not granted any permission for the use of Pokemon 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 Pokemon."
Interestingly, the statement ends in what could easily be read as something of a swipe against Palworld's tone, as The Pokemon Company also says it "will continue to cherish and nurture each and every Pokemon and its world." Palworld has taken flack over allegations of glorifying animal cruelty, and was often summarized as 'Pokemon with guns', before release.
Nintendo has already taken some action over Palworld - a Pokemon-themed mod that replaced the new survival game's models with those of Pokemon was taken down in less than 24 hours, prompting modding communities to lock down for fear of further action. But the CEO of Palworld developer Pocketpair has said that the studio has "absolutely no intention" of infringing on the IP of other companies. Whether that's enough to get Pokemon off Pocketpair's back remains to be seen - the similarities between some designs are clear, but in at least some of those instances, Pocketpair's defense is likely to hinge around the idea that you can't copyright the appearances of individual animals.
