Palworld: as popular as it is divisive
, by Quentin
We're in June 2021, at the heart of the Indie Live Expo, and one title is going to stand out from the rest of the announcements: it's Palworld, developed by the Japanese teams at Pocketpair. It has to be said that the proposal is as intriguing as it is unusual. It will finally be released in early access on January 19, 2024 on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC.
An announcement that hits the nail on the head, and a resounding success
The promise of this new title is to offer a game that combines the strengths of Pokémon, i.e. exploration and creature capture, with numerous crafting possibilities fully integrated into the game's structure, and above all... firearms. Some often joke that Pokémon is all about enslaving all the creatures our trainer comes across. Well, that's exactly what Palworld is all about. You'll be able to make the Pals work for you, defend your camp and fight alongside you with a host of weapons.
However, when all is said and done, Pocketpair's work raises many questions. Some will go so far as to cry plagiarism, while others appreciate the experience and see it as a Pokémon-like game as accessible as it is quirky on consoles other than Nintendo's. Commercially, Palworld was a thundering success, exceeding 19 million players worldwide and uniting two million simultaneous players on Wednesday January 24. But its feats don't stop there: the game is also available on Game Pass, and it has achieved the best start ever for a title created by a third-party developer. This is all the more impressive when you consider that the title is still in early access and there's no sign of its final version yet.
Nintendo's view on alleged plagiarism
There's a question on your mind, and rightly so. Is Nintendo going to say or do anything about Palworld? The Japanese company is used to protecting its creations like no one else, even going so far as to attack fans of their universes when they decide to make amateur projects using one of their IPs. But to our surprise, the company isn't as virulent and aggressive as usual.
However, it is true that The Pokémon Company has stressed that it is opening an investigation into Pocketpair's game, and has issued a press release in which it emphasizes the following:
"We have received numerous requests about another company's game released in January 2024. We have not granted any permission for the use of Pokémon intellectual property or resources in the game. We intend to investigate and take appropriate action".
This is not the first time that a title has drawn on the mechanics of Pokémon to propose its own vision. This was the case a few years ago with TemTem, developed by Crema and published by Humble Games, which was also a commercial success, and end up making its way to Nintendo Switch. But with Palworld, the treatment from the specialist press and gamers seems different. Why is that? Well, quite simply because there are other grey areas and suspicions surrounding Palworld.
Palworld's questionable grounds
Yes, as you'll have gathered, beyond the gameplay similarities, it's the design of the species present in the game that raises questions. Indeed, the aesthetics of some of the Pals closely resemble those of various Pokémon. One user on platform X even went so far as to create a thread comparing the first 111 Pals available with existing Pokémon. When placed side by side, some of the designs are astonishingly close to Nintendo's own models. We'll leave you to scroll through this series of publications to form your own opinion on the subject.
It's important to point out in advance that Takuro Mizobe, Pocketpair's director, explained that the studio had no intention of copying the intellectual property of other companies, and noted that The Pokémon Company had not yet filed any complaints with the courts. This same director also defended his artists, explaining that these were slanderous comments, and even reported receiving death threats against his employees.
It would seem that these are not the only troubling elements surrounding the Pocketpair teams. Indeed, some Internet users are now accusing the studio of using artificial intelligence to take care of certain game design tasks instead of qualified professionals, all with the aim of saving time as well as money. It's a point that is rapidly generating debate and outrage in an era where AI is gradually beginning to take root in various trades, and rightly so.
Doubts arose when Takuro Mizobe expressed repeated interest in the use of AI on his social networks, as well as in the past creation of a game called AI: Art Impostor. The latter asks you to compete against up to seven other players to generate images using artificial intelligence. All this has led to a wave of judgments about the ethics of the company's developers. Pocketpair denies all of this, and points out that all productions linked to Palworld are supervised by several people.
So it's up to The Pokémon Company and Nintendo to decide whether or not they want to take this case to court, and if all the elements prove to be admissible in court. If this ends up being the case, we'll keep you informed, and above all, it's likely to drag the two adversaries into a long battle lasting several years.
Source: forbes.fr