The Pokémon Company will “investigate” possible unauthorized misappropriation of its characters by studio PocketPair in the game “Palworld,” which has already sold millions of copies, it announced Thursday.
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“Palworld,” released on consoles and PC on Friday, is a so-called third-person shooter game in which an avatar evolves in a world populated by sometimes hostile creatures, some of them characters from the Pokémon universe.
Two of them in particular recall the famous Pikachu, the emblematic star of Pokémon available in the form of trading cards, cartoons and video games.
“We will investigate and take appropriate action on any intellectual property violations related to Pokémon,” the group warned in a statement posted on its website.
According to License Global, the Pokémon brand generated $11.6 billion in licensing revenue in 2022, more than gaming giants Hasbro or Mattel.
PocketPair announced Wednesday evening that “Palworld” had already sold 8 million copies in just six days.
“We have received several inquiries regarding the game from another publisher that was released in January,” Pokémon said, without mentioning the name of the game in question.
“We have not granted permission to use Pokémon's intellectual property rights in this game,” said the company, which is jointly controlled by Nintendo and Japanese video game publishers Game Freak and Creatures.
PocketPair did not immediately respond to AFP's request.
“We were the target of defamatory comments against our creators and noticed tweets that appeared to be death threats,” Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday.