When Palworld became popular a few days ago, people wondered what the Pokémon Company’s reaction was going to be. After all, the game used creatures that looked suspiciously like certain species of Pokémon, and took a fair bit of influence from the series in terms of other design elements too, even if it was also mixed in with parts of Ark: Survival Evolved and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
But now we have our answer. Why? Because just a few days ago, the Pokémon Company put out a statement about the Palworld situation, and how they’re going to handle it. Here’s the statement in question:
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
As you can see, it’s about as vague as you can get. There’s no definitive course of action planned, nor any indication the Pokémon Company has come to any conclusion about the game.
And that makes perfect sense to us. After all, while Palworld certainly takes inspiration from the Pokémon series, it’s very much up in the air whether said inspiration goes beyond that into outright plagiarism or copyright infringement. Many series have monsters you can catch and have fight in battles, and creatures with similar designs and themes to those from the Pokémon franchise.
So, their answer is probably the most logical one here. They’ll look at Palworld and take action if anything is outright copied from their games, and if not, they’ll just ignore it like they do Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh or Yo-Kai Watch.
Still, what do you think about the statement? Do you think the Pokémon Company will find any actual plagiarism in Palworld? What do you think the company should have done in this situation?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below, on social media, or on our Discord server today!
Source:
Inquiries Regarding Other Companies’ Games (Pokemon Company Press Release)