There have been many “imitations” over the years regarding the Pokemon franchise. After all, it was the biggest thing ever in the 90s and 2000s, and even now, in 2024, the love of the franchise (especially sales-wise) hasn’t waned. The phrase “often imitated, never duplicated” comes to mind here because while those other franchises have done well, they haven’t matched The Pokemon Company’s success by any metric. However, with the new game Palworld, there might be some serious competition. The game has sold millions of units in the first few days since launch, but that’s also caused some controversy.
As sites like Forbes have noted, the controversy is multi-layered, but the biggest one is that many Pokemon fans feel that Palworld is doing “blatant copyright infringement” with some of the designs of their “Pals.” Furthermore, the company behind the game has been accused of using “AI Generative Art” to make their Pals. While none of this has been confirmed, there has been “evidence” provided that there could be some untoward stuff going on. That’s why when The Pokemon Company officially responded to these claims, people took it seriously:
Pokémon Company announced they will be investigating Palworld.
Press Release: https://t.co/WC41XVxCub pic.twitter.com/I4H8DtMrAb
— Stealth (@Stealth40k) January 25, 2024
We can’t say for certain that anything will come of this, but they clearly felt it was important enough to release that statement.
