It’s the news we all expected to come sooner or later. Yup, Pokémon have officially announced that they will be investigating Palworld and will be taking appropriate measures.
Although, to be quite honest, The Pokémon Company didn’t say very much else. In fact, they didn’t even give Palworld the satisfaction of being mentioned in the press release.
Inquiries Regarding Other Companies’ Games
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.
The Pokémon Company
Known only as “another company’s game released in January 2024”, and the fact that it’s taken almost a week before we have heard anything from The Pokémon Company, it doesn’t seem like they have given Palworld much consideration at all. Perhaps there isn’t actually much for The Pokémon Company to use against Pocketpair and their monster-hunting survival game with guns.
If we look back a couple of years, Temtem was released, which is an exact Pokémon clone. The core loop of both games is to “catch them all”. Both games featured a variety of monsters that can be caught and trained, and all of them have unique abilities that you use to create the perfect team. PvE and PvP monster battles are basically all the action you get, and they all evolved into bigger, better versions of themselves.
Somehow, Temtem made it past Pokémon’s lawyers and is still a successful game with a decent following to this day. So what exactly will Pokémon have against Palworld, which is, at its core, completely different?
Besides the Pokémon mod, which has already been DMCA’d, there might not be anything The Pokémon Company can, and should, really do if they wanted to take Palworld down. Instead, they should look at the potential that monster hunting and collecting games have, seeing how much of an overwhelming success Palworld has become. Surpassing over 8 million copies sold and taking the second spot on the most concurrent players leaderboard, it seems like there’s nothing Palworld can’t do.
Then again, I’m no Japanese lawyer. I’m just a measly South African looking forward to a lekker braai and a bit of “Pokémon with guns” this weekend.
