Joseph Luster
January 25, 2024 
If you’ve been paying even a little attention to games in the past week or so, you’ve likely noticed how Palworld has dominated Steam since its debut in Early Access. Often billed as “Pokémon with Guns” by others outside of the devs at Pocketpair, the survival game has garnered a ton of attention and has sold over 8 million copies on Steam alone in the past week. That isn’t taking into account the fact that it’s also available on Xbox GamePass.
#Palworld has sold over 8 million copies in less than 6 days!
Thank you very much!!
As stated previously, we continue to work at full-speed on addressing bugs and issues!
Thanks for your support!#Pocketpair pic.twitter.com/4PLB1J4CYH— Palworld (@Palworld_EN) January 25, 2024
Since its debut, many have been enthusiastic about it, while others have gone to great effort to point out the similarities between some of its monster designs and those of the Pokémon series. The devs have denied any direct comparisons, but they’ve stayed in the spotlight for other reasons, too. One modder, for instance, saw fit to mod actual Pokémon characters into the game in a move that was swiftly DMCA’d by Nintendo.
Naturally, all of this has gotten the attention of The Pokémon Company. While they haven’t taken any action against the game, they did release a statement, which reads more like “we know about the game so please stop bugging us.” Note that they don’t call out Palworld by name, instead referring to it under the umbrella of “Other Companies’ Games.”
Here’s the full statement from The Pokémon Company’s official website:
Inquiries Regarding Other Companies’ Games
We have received many inquiries regarding another company’s game released in January 2024. We have not granted any permission for the use of Pokémon intellectual property or assets in that game. We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon. 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 Pokémon Company
So yeah, don’t worry, they know. Whether they decide to get litigious or not remains to be seen.
Source: The Pokémon Company
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