Palworld May Have Not Had "Exact" Copies Of Pokémon, After All

screenrant.com:

Someone who claimed used assets that are the same as has admitted these claims were exaggerated due to personal bias. Since 's hugely successful early access launch on January 19, 2024, the game has sold 8 million copies and currently has the second-highest all-time concurrent player count on Steam, but it has faced criticism for its similarities to the series' aesthetic and key designs.

One such claim came from X user byofrog, who stated in a series of posts that used assets with "" proportions as. Since these claims were debunked by fellow X user MetalDragonKid, byofrog has since admitted to scaling the models to better mirror 's, and has apologized for using the term «exactly» flippantly. Another post from byofrog has admitted a personal bias against , claiming that the game "" which is somewhat ironic considering the fact that sees players forcing their Pokémon to fight each other too.

The accusations surrounding 's resemblance to have led to The Pokémon Company launching an official investigation to "" Although it didn't mention by name, its timing and the announcement's mention of "" strongly suggests that will be the primary target of this investigation.

Despite this, the CEO of 's developer, Pocket Pair, has stated that the company has "" and claims passed several legal checks before its release. Pocket Pair also insists that is closer to survival sandbox titles such as and, than with a focus on resource management and other survival-based mechanics.

Pocket Pair has also claimed its Pals' physical designs are unique and several human designers have been credited despite some claims that they are AI-generated derivatives of. Whether The Pokémon Company's investigation will also deem this to be the case is yet to be seen, but with byofrog recanting their statement surrounding the «exact» similarities in the models, it is possible that this works in 's favor.

Sources: byofrog/X (1, 2, 3) MetalDragonKid/X

Palworld is an open-world crafting survival RPG developed