A new popular game that users are likening to “Pokémon with guns” appears to have caught the attention of the pocket monster franchise.
Palworld, which launched on the gaming platform Steam on Jan. 19, features fictional critters that can be “caught” by a player and then help that player to build structures, farm for food and engage in shootouts. One of its “pals,” Sparkit, is yellow with sharp, pointy ears and a large bushy tail, which some online say resembles Pokémon’s most iconic character: Pikachu.
On Thursday, the Pokémon Company issued a statement saying it plans to investigate possible infringement on its intellectual property after it “received many inquiries regarding another company’s game.” The statement doesn’t mention the title of the game.
“We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon,” the statement read. “We will continue to cherish and nurture each and every Pokémon and its world, and work to bring the world together through Pokémon in the future.”
The response comes amid increased buzz around the game, which sold 8 million copies in just under six days, according to a blog post by the game developers. “That translates into approximately $189 million USD in Steam sales in 5 days,” Geoff Keighley, a prominent figure in the video game industry, wrote on X.
Data from Steam shows the game, from the company Pocketpair, ranks as the second-most-played game ever on the platform, beating out titles like Counter-Strike, Cyberpunk 2077 and Hogwarts Legacy. Steam data shows 2 million concurrent users played the game on Wednesday.
In Palworld, users can catch fictional creatures with a “Pal Sphere” after that creature is weakened in combat. Online, people have said this act mirrors the mechanics in Pokémon games, in which players catch the vulnerable Pokémon with a “Poké Ball.”
Some players have homed in on what they say are similar aesthetics between the creatures themselves: a penguin seen in stills from the game bears a striking resemblance to the Pokémon Piplup; a white fox-like creature in Palworld called Cremis looks similar to one of Pokémon’s original ambassador characters, Eevee; and a statue of a creature in the game that appears to be an anthropomorphic wolf creature has been compared to the anthropomorphic wolf-like Pokémon Lucario.
While the game is well-reviewed, even those who enjoy it have raised the flag that it could be too close to Pokémon itself.
“dont get sued please,” one review of the game on Steam read.
But there are also those who have defended Palworld from the claims of plagiarism, suggesting that Pokémon took inspiration in its character design from characters in the video game Dragon Quest.
Some online have suggested that Palworld appears to borrow features and interfaces from other notable games as well, including Fortnite, Minecraft and Zelda.
Representatives for Nintendo (which publishes both Zelda and the Pokémon games), Mojang Studios (which makes Minecraft) and Epic Games (which makes Fortnite) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pocketpair also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe has reportedly said that he believes Palworld and Pokémon had little overlap and that the game had undergone legal reviews before it was released.
“We make our games very seriously, and we have absolutely no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property of other companies,” he told Automaton.
In interview about the game, published in 2021 by TheGamer, Mizobe said he was unaware the internet had been calling Palworld “Pokémon with guns” but said it could be a “lucky thing to have the meme of Pokemon with guns, but we totally didn’t intend it.”
Palworld is not the first instance of a game on Steam feeling eerily close to a different title. Most recently, in December, a zombie survival game called The Day Before immediately drew comparisons to the critically acclaimed zombie survival game The Last of Us. It teased similar visuals, and even similar title fonts, to the game.
But once players got their hands on it, many were disappointed, citing mediocre gameplay, according to The Verge. Within days of the game’s release, Fntastic, the developer behind The Day Before, announced it was shuttering.
