Palworld is far from the first Pokemon clone to hit the market; Temtem, Cassette Beasts, and Coromon are just a few games that mimic Pokemon to a higher degree than Palworld. Despite these similarities, The Pokemon Company has never, to the public’s knowledge, applied significant pressure on these games’ developers.

Just over a week ago, The Pokemon Company released a statement ostensibly about Palworld. Though, they never officially named the game, instead referring to it as “another company’s game released in January 2024.” According to the statement, the company is currently investigating potential copyright infringement.

Palworld developer Pocketpair hasn’t released a response as yet. Today, Tokyo Sports (and VGC) reported that a Japanese talent agency has informed its talent to not reference Palworld on social media so potential “future collaborations” with The Pokemon Company are not compromised.

We have told our talent not to mention Palworld on social media or in public. This was done out of consideration for the Pokémon side. This decision was made in consideration of future potential collaborations.

What’s clear about the entire situation is that Palworld is being regarded differently than the dozens of other Pokemon-inspired games you can find on Steam. An educated guess would suggest this is simply because of how explosively popular the game has become, often sitting at over a million concurrent players on Steam.

The other three games mentioned have never even achieved a fraction of these player counts. This mind-boggling level of popularity brings with it passionate fans and equally passionate anti-fans. Loose accusations have been flying on social media, broadcasted to massive audiences who fan the flames of the fire.

TPC said in its statement that it received “many inquiries” about Palworld, or “another company’s game” as it called it. The publicity of Palworld has demanded a statement from TPC, something that wouldn't have happened if the game hadn't become massively popular.

Palworld, as a consequence of its popularity, may have ‘flown too close to the sun’ should The Pokemon Company discover anything awry. If not, Pocketpair will most certainly go down as one of gaming’s biggest overnight success stories.

Posted: Feb 15, 2024 1:20 pm
Related Forum: PC Gaming Forum

Source: https://www.dualshockers.com/palworld-pressure-the-pokemon-company-japanese-celebrities/