Palworld, which some (IGN, DSOG) are referring to as Pokémon with Guns, is off to an interesting start after its first day of early access on January 19 for PC and Xbox. Palworld was only just recently announced for Xbox Game Pass on January 16 but word about the new game, which is said to be Pokémon-inspired, seems to have spread quickly and now after selling over 2 million copies in just 24 hours the game is being accused of ripping off designs from Pokémon.
Palworld has sold over 2 million copies in 24 hours since release!
— Palworld (@Palworld_EN) January 20, 2024
Thank you to everyone for playing!#Pocketpair #Palworld pic.twitter.com/gosLEqUjnq
As VGC reports, social media posts are accumulating that point out uncanny similarities to the long-running franchise but also call into question the reputation of Palworld’s parent company Pocketpair, and one of its other games that happens to include AI image Generator called AI: Art Impostor.
Per VGC:
“Steam’s newest hit survival game, Palworld, has been accused of plagiarising designs from Pokémon, as social media users negatively highlight its creator’s historical association with generative AI tools.”
The number of comparisons showing notably similar assets between Palworld and Pokémon is substantial and growing. Indeed, from nearly identical character designs with altered color schemes to potential piecemeal details being patched onto other characters, it may be just a matter of time until Pocketpair gets a call from Nintendo’s lawyers. After all, Nintendo does have a reputation for being protective of its intellectual properties.
Reminder not to support palworld, it's not even subtle about its rip offs, how much else has it stolen? pic.twitter.com/amoWemNcpC
— AutumnRaptor (@AutumnRaptor1) January 17, 2024
since I'm bored as hell, I'm gonna be making a thread of this i think… Palworld design analysis trying to spot every pokemon they jumbled together pic.twitter.com/Ch9jcx5hCI
— onion_mu (@onion_mu) January 18, 2024
Questions about ethical Generative AI usage
As if this isn’t enough to raise suspicion within the gaming community others have been posting about another game from Pocketpair called AI: Art Imposter which is said to include its own AI image generator. A post from social media shows the game mechanics where users are required to create images with it using other images they search for in a database as part of gameplay tasks. The poster has also shared quotes (machine translated by Google) from Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe highlighting both the potential for bypassing copyright with AI and their excitement for its image-generating game.
VGC has reached out to Pocketpair for comment regarding these accusations regarding the game’s development and is awaiting a response. As of now, there is no verified proof that the company has used generative AI to create assets from Pokémon. It has also been suggested online that the development team lacks the experience to have created the character designs for this game on its own but that too has not been proven.