If you follow the video game news, you have certainly heard of Palworld. It is the new phenomenon of the beginning of 2024, as since its release on January 19th, it has already sold 8 million copies worldwide. Yes, you heard right, 8 million sales in less than a week for a game that came out of nowhere. Palworld is outperforming classic AAA titles like Spider-Man 2, God of War Ragnarok, Starfield, and many others. But how does this Pokémon with weapons manage to surprise the whole industry? Who is behind this? Why is Palworld also surrounded by numerous controversies? Is it really a plagiarism? In any case, The Pokémon Company has just released a press release announcing the opening of an investigation into Palworld. Stay with me as we try to understand what seems to be the new legal saga of the video game and try to dissect it all.
Eight million sales in 6 days, we can say that Palworld is a real phenomenon and probably the beginning of a long-lasting success. But who are the main buyers of Palworld? According to a Steam profile study conducted by Game Discover, China and the United States represent the majority of game sales, with 36.4% and 21.4% market share respectively. This is far ahead of Germany with 6%, France with 3.3%, and Canada with 3%. Japan is just behind with 2.5% of buyers.
For now, Palworld is available on PC and Xbox, via the Xbox Game Pass, but most of the sales are mainly on Steam. The platform has announced that Palworld is now one of the most played games on Steam with a peak of over 2 million players connected simultaneously. Except for PUBG and its historical peak of 3.2 million players, no game has done better on Steam so far.
THE WAR IS DECLARED?
But will Palworld manage to continue its success? Nothing is certain, since The Pokémon Company has officially announced that it will investigate the making of the game developed by PocketPair and the numerous accusations of plagiarism it has been subjected to on social media. “We have received many inquiries regarding the game of another company released in January 2024. We have not granted any permission for the use of Pokémon intellectual property or assets in this game. We intend to investigate and take appropriate action to remedy any acts infringing Pokémon-related intellectual property rights”.
This is what can be read on the official Japanese website of The Pokémon Company, which may also be a way of responding to Pokémon fans, who are outraged that Palworld may encroach on their favorite games. If the case now takes a different turn, we should know that a former attorney who previously worked for The Pokémon Company, by the name of Don McGowan, had already spoken out to comment on what was happening around Palworld. According to him, he even wonders how such a project can exist, considering Palworld as a usual scam, as he could see a thousand times a year when he was legal director for Pokémon. Don McGowan goes even further by stating that he is surprised that such a game has gone so far, that the copy is so obvious, particularly on the “Shiny” creatures that the game should already be banned.
Some internet users have even found evidence that Palworld may have used 3D assets from Pokémon and according to some developers who have been interviewed on this, it is impossible to accidentally replicate the proportions of several 3D models from a single game without stealing the models in question. For them, the Pocketpair developers may have retrieved 3D models from Pokémon and drawn over them, which would explain the similarities.
Faced with the numerous accusations hovering over his studio, the head of the Pocketpair studio did not hesitate to speak out and even declared that they make their games very seriously, with no intention of stealing the intellectual property of other companies. Furthermore, other lawyers are not as categorical as Don McGowan, stating that it will be difficult for The Pokémon Company to win this plagiarism accusation solely on the grounds of imitation.
Because here is the whole difference between a copyright infringement lawsuit, which would be very difficult to prove in court, and the public debate about the ethics around Palworld and the resemblance in the design of its monsters compared to Pokémon. In addition, other internet users have been keen to point out that Pokémon monsters are already inspired by those of Dragon Quest, and there has never been drama… We could also talk about Digimon, but that’s another subject altogether.
PLAGIARISM, HOMAGE, OR INSPIRATION?
Despite this, since its launch on January 19, 2024, there has not been a single day where Palworld has not been the subject of heated debates on social media, also because some are convinced that the game used generative AI.
But let’s ask ourselves this question. Why is Palworld such a resounding success? For some, it is the Pokémon game that everyone has been waiting for, with a visual rendering that finally does justice to the platforms on which it is released. It must be said that the latest episodes of the Pokémon franchise, especially since it has opted for open-world games, are not technological showcases, far from it. They are even quite hideous, even shameful, when you know that each episode of Pokémon ultimately sells between 20 and 30 million copies. But for Nintendo and The Pokémon Company, it is a subject that does not seem to interest them, but by constantly showing it, players are also starting to get tired.
The other element that has allowed Palworld to succeed so much is in the appellation “Pokémon with guns”. While the comparison is viable in practice, in essence, it’s not quite like that. In reality, Palworld is more of an ARK: Survival Evolved game with a Pokémon skin, where the main interest is to capture and tame creatures to help the player improve their base. In Palworld, the player evolves in a world full of what are called Pals, which are creatures that can be captured with a small ball and thus reduced to slavery. You can ask them to work at the factory to produce resources and manufacture the weapons needed to survive in this ultimately hostile world. Up to 31 people can play on the same server, and that too is a compelling argument that contributes to the success of Palworld.
In the meantime, Palworld remains the biggest topic in the video game industry at the beginning of 2024, and this publicity only adds to its interest, adding a million sales per day since its release less than a week ago. Industry giants are delighting in this, as Xbox has already secured the game via its Game Pass on the day of its release, while Sony is already negotiating for a port to the PS5. One thing is for sure, we have not finished hearing about Palworld.
