Less than a month into 2024, the video game industry is already experiencing its first major success: Palworld. Cheerfully described as a “Pokémon with weapons,” according to its creator Pocket Pair, it managed to attract more than 6 million players in four days, a triumph that was not without controversy.
Pocket Pair, a small Japanese studio, calls it an open-world survival and building game. Palworld can be played alone or online with up to 32 players.
Craft tools, cook meals and build shelters on the colorful Palpagos islands. We also meet around a hundred Pals, child-like creatures that we catch and collect in our Paldex and then teach them to fight.
Since its official release on January 19th, the game – also available on Xbox – has been one of the most popular on the Steam platform. On the live streaming site Twitch, it is one of the most streamed and watched games on the platform.
A (too) striking resemblance to Pokémon?
According to Pocket Pair, Palworld sold more than 6 million copies of its game in six days, data comparable to the latest Pokémon games: Pokémon Legends: Arceus sold 6.5 million copies in a week and 10 million copies of Pokémon Violet and Pokémon Scarlet was within sold within three days.
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It must be said that many consider the title to be the push of modernity that Pokémon fans have been waiting for a long time and whose series, launched in 1996, is struggling to renew itself, according to several analysts.
The resemblance to the popular Nintendo series is so strong that internet users have tried to associate Pals creatures with their Pokémon equivalents, raising many questions as to whether it is plagiarized.
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A YouTuber named ToastedShoes even created a modification of the game, called a mod in English, that replaces Pals with Pokémon characters. However, he had to remove his demonstration video of the modified game at Nintendo's request, as Nintendo is known for being ruthless with unauthorized use of its licenses.
While Nintendo has not yet publicly responded to the public plagiarism allegations, Takuro Mizobe, CEO and lead developer of the game from Pocket Pair, told Japanese media company Automation that Palworld has successfully completed all necessary legal actions for the game. Waiver of Copyright Infringement.
We develop our games very seriously [et] “We have absolutely no intention of violating other companies’ intellectual property,” he told Automation.
According to Mizobe (New Window), the game is certainly inspired by Pokémon, but more specifically by Wildcard Studio's dinosaur survival action and adventure game Ark: Survival Evolves.
Other questions
One of the questions many people ask is whether it's about including firearms in a video game whose graphics appeal to children. In the Palworld trailers, his character can be seen several times, for example grabbing his machine gun and shooting at creatures. The game is suitable for children aged 12 and over.
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Other Internet users point out the possible use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the development of the game, information for which the Steam platform has recently demanded great transparency. On the Pocket Pair website, we can see the studio's penchant for AI in another of its creations, AI: Art Imposter, a PC game released in Early Access in 2022 that asks players to generate images.
Mizobe also liked several posts on X (formerly Twitter) about fake Pokemon generated by AI. However, there is no evidence as to whether or not the studio used AI models when developing Palworld.
Questions are also raised about the activities of the studio's CEO, Takuro Mizobe, who is very active in the cryptocurrency sector.
On his X account (formerly Twitter), he identifies himself as one of the founders of the cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck. As French newspaper Le Monde (New Window) reports, the platform, described at the time as a symbol of the growth of digital currencies in Japan, had to reimburse its customers an amount of approximately 632 million Canadian dollars that was stolen during a major computer attack in Year 2018.
Nevertheless, according to Le Monde, Mizobe was also the chief engineer of cryptocurrency investment company Sprindle, which was suspected by Japanese financial authorities of violating investment laws, prompting it to move to London before closing its doors.
A situation that is degenerating
Accusations of online plagiarism have fueled debate and even prompted some people to send hateful messages to the artists who worked on the game. The CEO appealed to X to remain calm, claiming to have received defamatory comments and even seen posts that resembled death threats.
“I would appreciate it if you would refrain from slandering the artists who worked on Palworld,” he wrote on X.
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Pocket Pair Studio and Nintendo did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Radio-Canada.
With information from Le Monde, Mashable and Automation