The Pokémon Company has issued an official statement regarding what could only be Palworld following the game’s success and its many controversies, including how Pocketpair, the developer behind the multiplayer open-world survival crafting game, allegedly stole many of its character designs from Pokémon. Pocketpair revealed yesterday that Palworld had already sold 8 million copies on Steam since its release on January 19; a new patch for the game is available today.
Statement from The Pokémon Company:
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.
Palworld v0.1.3.0 patch notes:
- Fixed a bug where the loading screen did not end when logging into the world
- Fixed a bug where the world date was not displayed correctly and appeared to reset.
- Corrected various incorrect text
- Countermeasures against various cheats and exploits
Palworld Early Access Roadmap:
- Addressing Critical Issues
- Currently, numerous bugs have been identified, and we are prioritizing fixing those.
- Sometimes, the world date may experience rollbacks.
- The loading screen may persist when trying to load into worlds.
- …and so on.
- Improvements to Implement ASAP
- Key configuration improvements.
- Improvements to base Pal AI and pathing.
- Planned Future Updates
- PvP
- Raid Bosses (End-Game Content)
- Pal Arena (PvP for Pals)
- Steam-Xbox Crossplay
- Various Xbox Feature Improvements
- Server Transfers and Migrations
- Improvements to the Building System
- New islands, Pals, Bosses, and Technologies.
Pocketpair on Palworld’s multiplayer support:
Multiplayer is supported, so invite a friend and go on an adventure together! And of course you can battle your friends and trade Pals, too. In online co-op play mode, up to 4 players can play together. Additionally, a dedicated server can allow up to 32 players to play together.
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Discussion (10 replies)
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I saw a great thing on this. The Palworld company and the Pokemon Nintendo company are all in Japan. Meaning their laws apply not US laws. Meaning there is no such thing as fair use.
I'm betting here that Nintendo doesn't have a legal leg to stand on according to the word of the law. They are SO litigious as an organization in protecting their IP that I just don't see them able to 'fix' this.
"Grimlakin, post: 81583, member: 215" wrote:I saw a great thing on this. The Palworld company and the Pokemon Nintendo company are all in Japan. Meaning their laws apply not US laws. Meaning there is no such thing as fair use.
Fair use is not just an US thing. IDK if Japan has an equivalent of it, but other countries certainly do.
But this would not fall under fair use anyway as they are direct competitors. Fair use is for commentary and transformative content that serves a different market than the IP used under fair use.
I(m not too versed on all the legalities, but around 90% or so of games should be in serious trouble as they are based on previous types of games id software could stop all fps games from releasing (or whoever had ther first fps game) etc..
"Denpepe, post: 81603, member: 284" wrote:I(m not too versed on all the legalities, but around 90% or so of games should be in serious trouble as they are based on previous types of games id software could stop all fps games from releasing (or whoever had ther first fps game) etc..
I think the precedent is that it needs to be 20% different to be not considered infringing. The only place where nintendo has a chance is the design of the creatures, because the rest of the game is certainly different enough to be not a problem.
Being similar is not enough for a lawsuit. Asylum films is basically built on this loophole.
Apparently, and not yet verified, one of the folks posting that they had proof of 1:1 character design copies, has come out and said they faked their findings. However, that is only just one specific person and the others were not making the exact same claims/posts. Almost did a story on it today but that posters social media page went "poof" so I held off. If more develops by tomorrow I let you know.
"Peter_Brosdahl, post: 81618, member: 87" wrote:Apparently, and not yet verified, one of the folks posting that they had proof of 1:1 character design copies, has come out and said they faked their findings. However, that is only just one specific person and the others were not making the exact same claims/posts. Almost did a story on it today but that posters social media page went "poof" so I held off. If more develops by tomorrow I let you know.
I'd not base an article on social media posts about a controversy. Just too many people willing to outright lie or fabricate evidence, or simply too uninformed and dumb to know any better but talk with such confidence as if they have irrefutable evidence.
"MadMummy76, post: 81635, member: 1298" wrote:I'd not base an article on social media posts about a controversy. Just too many people willing to outright lie or fabricate evidence, or simply too uninformed and dumb to know any better but talk with such confidence as if they have irrefutable evidence.
Exactly. I was waiting to see if something more credible would surface, and well, as of this morning nada. I did come across a Palword-themed PC case though -lol.
Nintendo suing someone is a normal Monday for them. I'm already at my limit, I can't hate them any harder.
"MadMummy76, post: 89518, member: 1298" wrote:Nintendo suing someone is a normal Monday for them. I'm already at my limit, I can't hate them any harder.
Well at least this time they are not suing fans for a community-made project, but rather another game developer.
Discussion (10 replies)
Join Discussion →I saw a great thing on this. The Palworld company and the Pokemon Nintendo company are all in Japan. Meaning their laws apply not US laws. Meaning there is no such thing as fair use.
I'm betting here that Nintendo doesn't have a legal leg to stand on according to the word of the law. They are SO litigious as an organization in protecting their IP that I just don't see them able to 'fix' this.
Fair use is not just an US thing. IDK if Japan has an equivalent of it, but other countries certainly do.
But this would not fall under fair use anyway as they are direct competitors. Fair use is for commentary and transformative content that serves a different market than the IP used under fair use.
I(m not too versed on all the legalities, but around 90% or so of games should be in serious trouble as they are based on previous types of games id software could stop all fps games from releasing (or whoever had ther first fps game) etc..
I think the precedent is that it needs to be 20% different to be not considered infringing. The only place where nintendo has a chance is the design of the creatures, because the rest of the game is certainly different enough to be not a problem.
Being similar is not enough for a lawsuit. Asylum films is basically built on this loophole.
Apparently, and not yet verified, one of the folks posting that they had proof of 1:1 character design copies, has come out and said they faked their findings. However, that is only just one specific person and the others were not making the exact same claims/posts. Almost did a story on it today but that posters social media page went "poof" so I held off. If more develops by tomorrow I let you know.
I'd not base an article on social media posts about a controversy. Just too many people willing to outright lie or fabricate evidence, or simply too uninformed and dumb to know any better but talk with such confidence as if they have irrefutable evidence.
Exactly. I was waiting to see if something more credible would surface, and well, as of this morning nada. I did come across a Palword-themed PC case though -lol.
I guess they got done investigating: https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/nintendo-is-suing-palworld-developer-pocketpair-for-patent-infringement-to-protect-the-intellectual-properties-it-has-worked-hard-to-establish-over-the-years
Nintendo suing someone is a normal Monday for them. I'm already at my limit, I can't hate them any harder.
Well at least this time they are not suing fans for a community-made project, but rather another game developer.