The Pokémon Company is investigating Palworld after plagiarism suspicions

Most companies like to sweep the bad parts of their legacy under the rug. For Nintendo, that includes some The Legend of Zelda games licensed for the Phillips CD-i platform. Frustrating game design, poor animation, and a terrible controller cemented these games as some of the worst ever made, but that doesn’t mean people have ignored them. Some of the earliest “YouTube Poops” were based on footage and dialogue from those games. And now, the new Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore is full-on spiritual successor — and a Phillips CD-i-inspired controller is coming out to go along with it.

An upcoming official Pokemon Scarlet and Violet tournament will utilize new AI technology, according to The Pokemon Company. While the AI shouldn't have any direct impact on the competitors themselves, the move may still come as a surprise.

The survival crafting game genre is in the middle of a renaissance. Players have been drawn to mainstays like Minecraft and Terreria for well over a decade at this point, but the last couple of months have seen plenty of new contenders enter the market. Lego Fortnite, Palworld, and Enshrouded all recently launched and became some of the biggest surprise hits in the industry in recent months. Now, Nightingale is launching and aims to ride this genre popularity wave to success.

Palworld took the world by storm following its early access launch on January 19. It peaked at over 2.1 million concurrent players on Steam, selling over 12 million copies on that platform alone and amassing at least 7 million more purchases via Xbox Game Pass. That means you’ve probably played it at this point, even if you aren’t playing many other video games right now. Thankfully, the melting pot — or derivative, depending on who you ask — design of Palworld makes it a gateway game to several other amazing titles.

One of the things that The Pokemon Company should be praised for with how it’s handled its franchise is that they’re never afraid to try new things to get attention for its property. One of the best examples of this happens to be with its animated series and shorts. They’ve hired multiple companies, including legendary anime studios, to create special visions of their world so fans could feel “even closer” to it. Today, the company decided to do that once again, as they made “Pokemon Ceruledge: Rumble in the Ruins,” a short video that features the fan-favorite Pokemon going up against a Dragapult!

Is Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League a salvageable live-service game? That question was top of mind as I reviewed the latest DC Arkhamverse game from Rocksteady Studios.

The Pokémon Company has issued a statement about “another company’s game released in January 2024”, a thinly veiled reference to the breakout hit Palworld, AKA “Pokémon with guns”. Is a copyright infringement suit coming at Palworld developer Pocket Pair? Well, maybe?

When it comes to The Pokemon Company, they are the mastermind behind the biggest media property in the world. That might sound like we’re overselling the importance of Pokemon, but if you look at the sales? They’re the ones who clean up the most. Anyway, for over 25 years, they’ve been making all sorts of titles attached to their pocket monsters. From the mainline RPGs that started the craze to the NUMEROUS spinoffs that helped build up the brand even more, they’ve been cranking things out almost every year or so. But when it came to the ninth generation of their beloved series, they hit their first true speed bump.

Recommended Videos

The Pokémon Company has broken its silence regarding Steam mega-hit Palworld, and said it’s investigating if it infringes on its IP rights.

The Snorlax has awoken. The Pokémon Company broke its silence on Palworld, the smash hit Pokémon-inspired survival game, on Thursday, saying it intended to investigate the game and “take appropriate measures” if it judges that its intellectual property rights have been infringed.

The Pokemon Company has finally made a public statement about Palworld, but without referring to it by name.