CEO of Palworld dev says he's seen death threats, asks people not to slander the artists working on the game

gamesradar.com:

The CEO of Palworld developer Pocketpair has stated that the game's artists have received death threats, and has asked that people stop directing messages towards studio staff.

Takuro Mizobe, CEO of Pocketpair, put out the tweet just below earlier today, January 22. Mizobe's tweet firstly reveals that artists working on Palworld have received "slanderous" messages and comments about their work, some of which include death threats via Twitter.

The CEO further writes that as he is responsible for the production of Palworld, he is asking everyone to refrain from writing such messages to the artists at Pocketpair. The responses, from predominantly Japanese Twitter users, appear to be in support of Mizobe and the Palworld artists.

現在、弊社のアーティストに対して誹謗中傷が届いており、殺害予告に近いようなツイートも散見されます。パルワールドに関して様々な意見を頂いておりますが、パルワールドに関する制作物の監修は全て私を含めた複数人で行っており、制作物の責任は私にあります。…January 22, 2024

This all follows after Mizobe dismissed concerns about Palworld's similarities to Pokemon. "We have absolutely no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property of other companies," Mizobe wrote on Twitter, attempting to dispel similarities between the two.

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Much has been made of Palworld's similarities to Pokemon. Even before Pocketpair's game launched in early access last week, it had already been dubbed 'Pokemon with guns' by social media users, and now that the multiplayer game has launched, people are drawing direct comparisons between Palworld's creatures and Pokemon.

Twitter users have drawn comparisons between dozens of creatures in Palworld and the Pokemon series. Developers have even weighed in on the debate, with Moonglow Bay director Zack Soares writing that "the fact that Palworld has similarities isn't due to some lack of creativity, but entirely due to intent to stir controversy and marketing."

If you're currently playing through Pocketpair's game yourself, you