Nexus Mods "not comfortable" hosting Palworld Pokémon mods due to potential Nintendo legal action

eurogamer.net:

Nexus Mods — one of the biggest modding sites on the internet — has confirmed it won't be hosting Pokémon-themed Palworld mods, saying doing so would «almost certainly… put us at risk of legal action» given Nintendo's history of litigiousness.

Palworld's big hook, of course, is the Pokémon-like Pals that roam its open world, all of which can be caught (in a very Pokémon-like manner) to assist in exploration and survival. The sometimes startling similarity between Pals and Pokémon's creature designs has been a major talking point since its early access launch got underway, and it was inevitable modders would begin swapping out Palworld's derivative creatures for the real thing.

It took mere days for the first Palworld Pokémon mod to arrive, and quick as you like, Nintendo's lawyers were on it. «Nintendo has come for me,» YouTuber ToastedShoes wrote just a day after showcasing his Pokémon Palworld mod on social media, where all footage was suddenly removed «in response to a report by the copyright owner.»

And it's in this climate that Nexus Mods is now saying no to hosting Pokémon-themed Palworld mods. In a statement provided to PCGamesN — which spotted an Ash Ketchum mod for Palworld had seemingly been removed from the site — Nexus Mods community lead Mathew Elliott admitted, «We do think that adding Pokémon content to Palworld is a very cool idea and we understand why people would want such a thing. However, we're not comfortable hosting this content».

«As you may know,» the statement continued by way of explanation, «Nintendo (who jointly own the Pokémon franchise) has a consistent record of mercilessly submitting legal challenges, DMCAs, and takedowns against fan-made content. Given Palworld's similarity to the Pokémon franchise as a base game, hosting content that adds copyrighted characters or assets into the game