In a statement, after acknowledging the lawsuit, Pocketpair says it is “unaware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing upon”, since it has “not been notified of such details”. Later in the statement, the studio remarks that having to dedicate “significant time” to the lawsuit rather than focusing on the game is “truly unfortunate”, but says that it will do its best to “ensure that indie game developers are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas.”

“Pocketpair is a small indie game company based in Tokyo. Our goal as a company has always been to create fun games,” Pocketpair’s official statement reads. “We will continue to pursue this goal because we know that our games bring joy to millions of gamers around the world. Palworld was a surprise success this year, both for gamers and for us. We were blown away by the amazing response to the game and have been working hard to make it even better for our fans. We will continue improving Palworld and strive to create a game that our fans can be proud of.

“It is truly unfortunate that we will be forced to allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development due to this lawsuit. However, we will do our utmost for our fans, and to ensure that indie game developers are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas.

“We apologize to our fans and supporters for any worry or discomfort that this news has caused.”

Palworld is available in early access on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC. Within roughly a month of its release, Pocketpair announced that it had crossed 25 million players across all platforms.

Instantly upon Palworld’s release, there were many who wondered if Nintendo and The Pokemon Company would be taking legal action against developer Pocketpair, not least because of how trigger happy they typically tend to be in that arena, though in July, Pocketpair stated that it had received no official complaints from either company on that front. That, it seems, has changed.

Nintendo has confirmed that it is suing Palworld developer Pocketpair for patent infringement, for which it is seeking injunction and compensation. A patent infringement lawsuit was filed against the developer jointly by Nintendo and The Pokemon Company in the Tokyo District Court earlier today, on September 18.

“This lawsuit seeks an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds that Palworld, a game developed and released by the Defendant, infringes multiple patent rights,” Nintendo’s release reads.

“Nintendo will continue to take necessary actions against any infringement of its intellectual property rights including the Nintendo brand itself, to protect the intellectual properties it has worked hard to establish over the years.”

Palworld is currently available in early access on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC. As of February, it had over 25 million players across all platforms. As per Pocketpair, the game was developed on a budget of $6.7 million, going on to make “tens of billions of yen” in profit. Read more on that through here.

In total, the company is looking to recruit in a total of 37 open positions, across disciplines ranging from programming and design to art and more. Several of the open positions specifically mention that they will be focused on development of Pokemon titles, with some being dedicated to new internal IP, others to research and development, and more.

As of March earlier this year, Game Freak had a total of 207 employees, so adding 37 new roles to that would represent growth of nearly 18 percent for the studio. It’s worth mentioning, however, that several of the new positions are set to be contract roles instead of permanent ones.

With the Nintendo Switch’s successor set to be announced (and presumably released) in the coming months, it’s no surprise that studios focused on developing Switch titles are ramping up and expanding, especially amidst insistent reports that the upcoming console will support 4K and thus require more complex development pipelines.

After Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s controversial launch in 2022, The Pokemon Company and Nintendo had to issue an apology for the technical state of the launch, before assuring later that it was looking into ways to improve the state of future releases while still maintaining a packed release schedule. Earlier this year, reports claimed that the company was looking to take serious steps to avoid the technical issues that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet faced at launch.

You can find a full list of Game Freak’s open positions below:

• Planner
• Planner (scenario/setting creation)
• [Contract] Sound Planner (Pokemon series development)
• Character Model
• Effects
• Background Model
• Cutscenes
• Section Director
• Lighting Artist
• Human Motion
• Pokemon Models
• 2D Art Designer
• 2D Art Designer: Background
• [Contract] 2D Artwork Designer (Pokemon series development)
• Project Manager
• [Contract] Assistant Project Manager
• Game Programmer
• Game Programmer: Communication System
• [Contract] Game Programmer: Characters (New IP)
• [Contract] Game Programmer: Events (New IP)
• [Contract] UI Programmer (New IP)
• [Contract] Communication Game Programmer (Pokemon series development)
• [Contract] Unity Engineer (Assigned to R&D Department)
• [Contract] Animation Programmer (Assigned to R&D Department)
• [Contract] Infrastructure Engineer (Server)
• [Contract] Information Systems: Windows Infrastructure Engineer
• R&D Programmer: Communication Systems
• R&D Programmer: Animation
• R&D Programmer: Machine Learning Engineer
• R&D Programmer: Graphics
• R&D Programmer: Systems
• R&D Programmer: Battle Systems
• R&D Programmer: Libraries
• Technical Artist: Procedural
• Technical Artist: Tools
• HR and Recruitment
• [Contract] IT Help Desk

As per Merrick, Pokemon Works’ offices are situated in the same building that also houses the offices of independent support studio ILCA, which served as the lead developer on 2021’s Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, and 2020’s Pokemon Home.

However, it’s unknown whether working closely with ILCA on future titles is going to be a mandate for Pokemon Works. In fact, currently, it’s unknown what exact purpose the newly-established subsidiary will be serving.

Pokemon games in the Nintendo Switch era have frequently been criticized for the poor technical states they have launched in. Following backlash against Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, The Pokemon Company said it was having internal conversations about how best to ensure future instalments hit a certain bar of quality, without having to significantly alter the series’ release schedule. Earlier this year, it was claimed that the company had taken criticism for Scarlet and Violet seriously, and was taking steps to ensure that similar issues were avoided in future titles.

The next mainline Pokemon game, Pokemon Legends: Z-A, was announced last month. Set entirely within the Kalos region’s Lumiose City, it will launch sometime in 2025.

This company is set up in Shinjuku in Tokyo in the same building as ILCA.

— Joe Merrick (@JoeMerrick) March 11, 2024

What that news could be is, of course, the question. With Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s post-launch support having wrapped up, the runway is clear for the series’ next mainline game to be announced, though some might argue that it’s a bit too soon for that. Could we see remakes for Pokemon Black and White, or perhaps the next instalment in the Pokemon Let’s Go or Pokemon Legends lines of games? Perhaps a new Mystery Dungeon game, or a similar spinoff?

Either way, the event’s not far away, so we’ll have our questions answered soon enough. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

Did somebody say #PokemonPresents? 👀

Tune in to our official YouTube channel at 6:00 a.m. PST on February 27th to view exciting Pokémon news in celebration of #PokemonDay 2024! 🎉

See you there, Trainers!

📺: https://t.co/eDWO5LvlWq pic.twitter.com/plsFcIJ2eS

— Pokémon (@Pokemon) February 20, 2024

Even crazier are the sales – each day brings a new sales milestone, and that’s from Steam numbers alone. Such is the hype that on January 22nd, Palworld even beat Fortnite, a free-to-play title, in daily active users in the United States on Xbox Series X/S (per analyst group Circana). Regardless of the fact it’s also available on Game Pass, that’s still a lot of players, who also averaged about 200 minutes of gameplay during that time.

Of course, Palworld hasn’t been without its controversies, from the darker themes and discrepancies between the Steam and Xbox/Microsoft Store versions to accusations of plagiarizing Pokemon. Pocketpair has denied the latter, stating that the game has cleared legal reviews and that other companies have taken no action against it. “We make our games very seriously, and we have no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property of other companies,” said CEO Takuro Mizobe before launch.

The Pokemon Company only recently released a statement regarding the “many inquiries” received about “another company’s game released in January 2024.” It intends to “investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokemon.” Pocketpair hasn’t been hit with a legal notice (to our knowledge), and Palworld continues to sell. Meanwhile, a mod that brings Pokemon into Palworld has been struck down by Nintendo, so you know it’s serious about taking the “appropriate measures.”

All of that aside, however, I’m still awestruck by the game’s success. Why is Palworld so popular, especially when initial reactions ranged from baulking at the absurdity of “Pokemon with guns” to concern over some of the morally grey things you can do? What makes a game that distills several elements from other titles, whether it’s Ark: Survival Evolved’s Technology Levels or Elden Ring’s Evergaols for its dungeons, so intrinsically addictive? There’s also the fact that it has some pretty glaring flaws that must be addressed, like the Pal AI in bases to players losing dozens of hours of progress due to bugs.

However, for all the issues or things that induce deja vu for other games in Palworld, there’s a lot unique and, quite frankly, downright crazy (in a good way). Using Foxparks to cook your food and smelt ore into Ingots sounds nice, but how about wielding it as a literal flamethrower in battles? Mossanda seems all big and cuddly… until you unlock the ability to ride him and fire a grenade launcher. Even Pengullet, as adorable and innocent as can be, is usable as a rocket launcher and immediately faints afterwards.

For as grim as certain aspects can be, from butchering Pals to capturing humans, it’s offset by the colorful art style and sheer absurdity of its many aspects. Pals go from helping in tasks to outright working assembly lines to produce items faster. You can attack other NPCs, and if you’re weaker, they may pull a gun and kill you immediately. If you’re stronger, then the cops may show up to claim vengeance. There’s also something surreal about seeing Lambell hopping gunner turrets to defend your base or Lifmunk pulling out an SMG on some poor fools.

Palworld also lends itself to some ingenuity, like players defeating a much higher level Mammorest by building multiple campfires and luring it in. Since it’s weak to fire, the strategy works. It also had Pocketpair’s approval, which could mean encouraging other such unconventional tactics for survival (assuming they’re not secretly planning on nerfing them).

Of course, there’s also the fact that Palworld is fun to play. Despite melee weapons feeling underwhelming and some other combat aspects to tighten up, it’s just enjoyable to fight in real-time while riding on a Suzaku and battling wild Pals in the skies with your friends. Throwing out a Pal while having another by your side and supporting them with gunfire makes for some tense encounters.

Furthermore, as straightforward as the world may seem, there’s a lot to do, with over 100 Pals to collect (not including Alphas, Shinies or breeding your own), hundreds of items to craft and the abject freedom to do as you please. You can fly around and defeat random Pals for materials or capture them to raise your own Pals’ Tiers with the Pal Essence Condenser.

If you want to claim Lifmunk Effigies, loot chests or assault outposts for other Faction members, go right ahead. Is venturing to the Tower in the frozen regions a great idea, especially when you’re not even high enough level to contend with the trainer within? Probably not, but you can do it, and that’s all that matters. The same goes for trying to pick a fight in peaceful settlements – the residents will fight back, and you’ll be in serious trouble, but hey, it’s your choice.

Of course, for as much fun as players have with Palworld, there’s no denying that some of its success is due to disappointment with Nintendo’s Pokemon series. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, despite their positives, were panned for their poor performance, which remains an issue to this day.

Considering Pokemon is a billion-dollar franchise, and Game Freak has the backing of Nintendo, seeing a relatively smaller developer on a much lower budget delivering something like Palworld (which is still in early access) has no doubt resonated with some. There may also be general fatigue with the Pokemon IP, and being able to dive into something that puts its little spin on things is nice.

Then again, Palworld is still in early access. Players will eventually complete all the content, leading to concurrent player counts dropping. Other major titles will launch over the coming months, so the hype will slowly die. Pocketpair has announced plans to add PvP, raid bosses as end-game content, cross-platform play and improved building mechanics while addressing the various bugs. However, it may take sufficiently large content updates to see concurrent player numbers like this over the next year or so while it remains in early access.

There’s also the possibility that players enjoying it now could move on and not return until Palworld exits early access and launches in full. Even games like Valheim, which caught on like wildfire when it first launched, see much lower peak concurrent player counts compared to launch.

Nevertheless, in the here and now, Palworld continues to ride the hype train to higher sales numbers. It not only proves that a competitor can come along and make it big against an established dynasty like Pokemon, but that a smaller developer can find unprecedented, overwhelming success out of nowhere. Whether it’s considered a fluke or a flash in the pan, the numbers are in Palworld’s favor. How long it can keep up that momentum remains to be seen, but for now, it’s unstoppable.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

The “Pokemon with guns” elevator pitch, even though it’s an unofficial one, has clearly worked. Palworld launched in early access just a few days ago, and the success it has enjoyed right out the gate has been startling to see. The game sold over a million units within its first eight hours alone, and it has knocked down multiple sales milestones since then at an alarming rate. At last count, Pocketpair had announced that the game had sold over 8 million units within just 5 days, while on Steam, it had also hit a concurrent player count peak of over 2 million, which is the second-highest ever in Steam history, above the likes of Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, Lost Ark, Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy, Elden Ring, Baldur’s Gate 3, Apex Legends, and many, many other megatons. It’s hit one milestone after another at such a rapid pace that by the time this feature goes live, those numbers mentioned above may already be outdated.

To give you an idea of how well Palworld is selling, it’s outpacing and outselling the sales of some of the biggest names in the gaming industry. It’s sold more than all but three Legend of Zelda games, it will soon have overtaken Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and it’s selling faster than even the likes of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and God of War Ragnarok, which are the two fastest-selling games in PlayStation Studios history. And those are just a few examples out of many that we could talk about for hours. Sure, as a $30 early access game, there is a caveat attached to those comparisons, but it does paint an interesting picture nonetheless- not least because the game has sold as well as it has in spite of also being available on Game Pass.

Palworld’s outward similarities to Pokemon have clearly helped its sales in significant fashion, but there’s no doubt that the quality of the game itself has massively helped things as well. Even in its early access form, it’s an addictive game with a strong core loop, and whether you’re exploring the world and catching or battling Pals, battling bosses, or building bases with your friends, it’s hard not be enjoying yourself. And yet, all of the success that the game has enjoyed has come with a few caveats- most prominent among them being the very clear similarities it has to Pokemon, similarities that are clear enough for the game to even have drawn vociferous allegations of plagiarism and theft.

As a gameplay experience, Palworld and Pokemon are quite different, and anyone who’s played both will tell you as much. Rather than “Pokemon with guns”, Palworld is more “Ark: Survival Evolved with Pokemon”, with the emphasis very much being on the survival side of things, on gathering resources and building bases, on co-opping with your friends. But the titular Pals are undeniably a central part of the experience, and many have pointed out just how close their designs are to Pokemon designs- close enough that even their legality is being questioned.

For instance, over on Twitter, user @byofrog has pointed out several similarities between even the meshes for designs in Palworld and those in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, suggesting that Pocketpair took assets from Pokemon and ran them through an AI generator to develop different variations of plagiarized work. It doesn’t help that Pocketpair also has a history of using AI generative tools, and has been accused of plagiarism with its past games as well- Craftopia, for instance, copies The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s iconic opening almost shot for shot.  The company’s CEO Takuro Mizobe himself has spoken in the past about using AI to bypass copyright laws.

Given the nature of this discussion though, nuance is obviously required. For starters, though Pocketpair’s past stance on AI can certainly raises suspicion, so far, there’s been little to no concrete evidence that generative AI tools were indeed used for Palworld. It also goes without saying that if Palworld’s monster designs are simply inspired (or even ripped off) from Pokemon but not outright stolen, that’s not copyright violation. There’s no shortage of Pokemon imitators that pop up pretty much every week, and the reason that continues to happen is because it’s allowed by law. Call it parody, call it inspiration, call it whatever you will- but simply making monsters that are distinctly Pokemon-like isn’t classified as plagiarism in and of itself.

Of course, if it emerges that Pocketpair did steal Pokemon Scarlet and Violet assets, that would be a completely different story. In that scenario, there’d be little doubt in anyone’s mind that we’re looking at outright theft and plagiarism, and The Pokemon Company and Nintendo would have solid grounds to pursue legal action. Right now, however, when the majority of the evidence on hand is circumstantial at best, it wouldn’t exactly be fair to concretely say that Pocketpair has ripped Pokemon assets and passed them off as its own work. Is it suspicious? Evidently so. Is it worth keeping an eye on? Most definitely. But is it plagiarism? Maaaaaybe? We don’t know for sure- yet.

Palworld is, of course, out now, and I’d bet you everything I own that The Pokemon Company and Nintendo are digging into the game’s files to try and figure out if there’s any plagiarism in play, and if there is, how flagrant it is. In the three years in the lead-up to its launch, the buzz that Palworld generated, especially with its unofficial “Pokemon with guns” moniker, there’s no doubt that the legal teams working with the Pokemon IP would have flagged the game, and now that it’s actually out, there’s nothing stopping them from doing their own research and digging to see how much of a case they have.

The Pokemon Company is, of course, no stranger to dealing with imitators and ripoffs, so the whole Palworld situation isn’t going to throw any new challenges its way that it hasn’t seen before hundres of times. In fact, speaking with Game File’s Stephen Totilo about Palworld, Don McGowan – who was the head of The Pokemon Company’s legal team for about a dozen years – recently said, “This looks like the usual ripoff nonsense that I would see a thousand times a year when I was Chief Legal Officer of Pokémon. I’m just surprised it got this far.”

Clearly, this is a situation that’s going to continue developing in the weeks and months ahead, and watching it unfold in the immediate aftermath of Palworld’s launch has been fascinating, to say the very least, whether it’s the game’s startling success we’re talking about, or all the discussions surrounding whether or not it has plagiarized Pokemon, or if it has somehow managed to toe the line in a manner that doesn’t violate legality. The question now is- at whatever point in the future, after it becomes clear just what exactly has gone on with Palworld’s monster designs under the hood, when we look back at the game, will we look back at it and be impressed with what it accomplished, or with a sour taste in our mouths? That much remains to be seen.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

As you may expect, The Pokemon Company is well aware of those similarities, and has finally issued an official statement regarding the same, saying that it “intends to investigate” Palworld, and if it deems it to have infringed Pokemon’s intellectual property rights, that it will “take appropriate measures” to address any such infringements.

“We have received many inquiries regarding another company’s game released in January 2024,” The Pokemon Company wrote in its statement. “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 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.”

Thus far, Palworld developer Pocketpair has made no statements directly addressing allegations of plagiarism, though many users online have pointed to evidence that potentially points to the game have based its monster designs on assets taken from Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, while the use of generative AI has also been brought up as a possibility.

How this situation progresses remains to be seen, but we’ll be keeping a close eye on it, so stay tuned for more details in the coming days and weeks.

Speaking to ComicBook.com, Utsunomiya stated that there have been conversations about changing the cadence of game releases as development environments change.

“I think in general, if you look at the past, the path we’ve taken up until now has been this constant release, always regularly releasing products on a fairly fixed kind of a cadence, you might say,” Utsunomiya said through a translator. “Always having these products able to be introduced and new experiences for our customers, and that’s how we’ve operated up until now. I think we’re still operating in that way, but there’s more and more conversations, as the development environments change, about how we can continue to do this, while making sure that we’re ensuring really quality products are also being introduced.”

For context, new Pokemon games have been coming out on a regular, almost yearly basis since the franchise first made its debut on the Game Boy back in 1996. Since then, the franchise has gone through several generations of platforms, focusing mainly on handheld systems for its mainline releases. The release of the Nintendo Switch was the first time mainline Pokemon games were released on a platform that could be considered a home console.

More recent Pokemon games have seen quite a few complaints by players owing to performance issues and lacklustre visuals. Despite these complaints, however, new mainline Pokemon games almost always top sales charts all over the world.

The most recent release, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, is currently gearing up for the release of its The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero expansion, which will be bringing over 230 Pokemon to the game. The expansion will be released in two parts, with the first arriving on September 13 and the second slated for a Winter release.

There’s no word on what that news will entail, as you might expect, but one would assume that The Pokemon Company and Nintendo will soon be gearing up to announce Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s post-launch expansions.

Recently, Nintendo also announced the introduction of Game Boy and Game Boy Advance libraries to Nintendo Switch Online, though mainline Pokemon games were notably missing from the catalogues of new additions. Fans will be hoping that some of the older Pokemon titles get announced for the service at the event.

Given the fact that Nintendo and The Pokemon Company released two new mainline Pokemon games last year with Pokemon Legends: Arceus and the aforementioned Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, it would be safe to assume that no new major instalments will be announced- though new spinoff announcements could still happen, of course.

We’ll be keeping an eye out for new details on what the presentation will unveil, so stay tuned for more updates.

The next #PokemonPresents is on the way, Trainers! 🤩

Tune in to our official YouTube channel at 6:00 a.m. PST on February 27 for about 20 minutes of exciting Pokémon news in celebration of #PokemonDay 2023! 🎉

📺 https://t.co/Xo6KYjvSdj pic.twitter.com/FFrmk8a5z8

— Pokémon (@Pokemon) February 21, 2023