Palworld Accused of Plagiarising Pokémon as Game Sells 6 Million Copies, Pocketpair CEO Responds
Palworld, the viral hit action-adventure survival title from Japanese developers Pocketpair, has taken the gaming industry by storm, climbing to the top of Steam charts and selling six million copies in just four days of release. But as the game's player count balloons, it has found itself embroiled in a plagiarism controversy, with many on the Internet pointing out alleged similarities between the designs of Palworld's creatures and those in popular Pokémon games. A user on social media platform X has gone as far as to compare in-game 3D models from both Palworld and Pokémon, claiming evidence of outright plagiarism.
Palworld features Pokémon-style animals, or Pals, that can be captured and utilised for combat, traversal and base building in the game's open world. Gamers and commentators have even called the new survival title from Pocketpair “Pokémon with Guns.” Some, however, have gone beyond the claims of Palworld's creatures being inspired by or satirising cute pocket monsters from the iconic Game Freak franchise and levelled accusations of plagiarising in-game assets.
On Sunday, X user @byofrog posted side-by-side mesh comparisons for character models from both Palworld and Pokémon games, first highlighting the similarities between a creature from the newly released game and the Cinderace model from Pokémon Sword and Shield. The user went on to post several other side-by-side comparisons, sparking more copycat accusations against Pocketpair. Since Palworld's January 19 early access release, gamers and game developers have engaged in intense discourse over the game's perceived Pokémon inspirations, with some alleging plagiarism and others defending the developers.
The #palworld meshes are not node-for-node the same, but they're really close. #pokemon pic.twitter.com/GZGUaSnuNG
A former game designer at Blizzard, Eric Covington, quoted one of @byofrog's comparison posts and claimed that the close similarity seen between character models couldn't be accidental.
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