Palworld Devs Says They Have Received Death Threats Amid Pokémon 'Rip-Off' Claims
Amid the explosive launch of Palworld, its developers have taken to social media to say they have received death threats.
Last week, IGN reported on how Palworld, aka ‘Pokémon with guns’, had sparked a vociferous debate online about whether it had “ripped-off” Nintendo’s famous franchise.
Some Pokémon fans say Palworld’s Pals are too similar to Pokémon, with a number of social media posts that place Pals next to Pokémon going viral.
Palworld developer Pocketpair has insisted Palworld is more akin to survival crafting games such as Ark Survival Evolved and Valheim than Pokemon, but that hasn’t stopped people from continuing to hit out at the game.
Pocketpair community manager Bucky, who has been active on Twitter / X and Palworld’s Discord, posted to say they had received death threats since the game went live in early access form on January 19.
“Frantically working through all my DMs and emails! I promise!” Bucky said. “However, you'll excuse me if I skip over the death threats, threats to the company and massively outlandish claims.
“If you're capable of writing like an actual human being though, I'll reply asap!”
Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe also tweeted to say they had received death threats, and hit out at “slanderous comments”.
“Currently, we are receiving slanderous comments against our artists, and we are seeing tweets that appear to be death threats,” Mizobe said.
“I have received a variety of opinions regarding Palworld, but all productions related to Palworld are supervised by multiple people, including myself, and I am responsible for the production.
“I would appreciate it if you would refrain from slandering the artists involved in Palworld.”
In a new interview published by Automaton, Mizobe addressed the question of potential legal issues surrounding Palworld’s release and its likeness to Pokémon. According to the site, Mizobe said Palworld cleared legal reviews, and insisted there has been no action taken against it by other companies.
Mizobe said: “We make our
Read more on ign.com
