Palworld’s incredible launch success is being overshadowed by accusations of plagiarism, AI usage, and toxic harassment targeting its developers.
The breakout success of Palworld, the new survival crafting game that released on Steam Early Access last week, has been overshadowed by accusations that the game’s developer, Pocketpair, plagiarized designs from Pokémon. While the gameplay itself differs significantly from the Pokémon series, many have noted strong visual similarities between Palworld‘s creature designs, called “Pals,” and existing Pokémon.
Initially, users on social media highlighted perceived similarities between specific Pal and Pokémon designs. However, accusations escalated when an anonymous account posted videos directly comparing Palworld’s 3D models to Pokémon models, claiming they were copied. Pocketpair has not directly responded to this latest allegation.
If true, it could spur legal action from The Pokémon Company, which has a history of targeting fan games and copyright infringement issues. Still, the controversy hasn’t diminished Palworld’s success so far. Even with these issues, it is reported that Palworld has sold over 5 million copies since launch and has seen more than 1.3 million concurrent Steam players.
Making matters worse, Pocketpair’s CEO Takuro Mizobe has a past association with AI generative tools like DALL-E 2 and Midjourney, which he has openly said inspire him creatively. This revelation increased speculation that AI was used to generate designs for Palworld. However, no hard evidence proving the use of AI has emerged. Even though people on social media and other studios are calling out their Concerns, interest in AI art tools has become relatively common among game developers lately, and currently, there is no hard evidence that Pocketpair used AI for the development of Palworld.
Whatever the situation may be behind the scenes, these rampant accusations have fostered a toxic atmosphere, particularly on social media. Pocketpair’s community manager, Bucky, recently revealed that studio members have received death threats since launch. Such harassment and toxicity directed at game developers has sadly become an epidemic in the industry, and no matter how the development process is, it is never acceptable to threaten or attack developers.
Pocketpair has not directly addressed the controversy, plaguing the smash hit game, even as more details emerge. Even with this silence, fans seem willing to overlook the controversies and enjoy Palworld’s novel gameplay premise. Stay tuned to CGMagazine for all the latest news about as it emerges.
