Palworld developer Pocketpair has yet to hear a word from Nintendo’s legal team five months after The Pokemon Company seemed to imply it would begin investigating the smash hit survival game over potential copyright issues.
Asked about the situation in an interview with Game File , Palworld creator Takuro Mizobe said neither The Pokemon Company nor Nintendo has followed through with what appeared at the time to be a legal investigation. “[We heard] nothing at all,” Mizobe said. “Nintendo and the Pokémon Company didn’t say anything to us.”
Palworld released in Early Access on January 19, 2024 to instant virality, embedding Pokemon-like creatures into an online open-world survival crafting sandbox and becoming one of the year’s biggest surprise hits.
The thing is, the whole “Pokemon-like” aspect of it didn’t go unnoticed by the owners of Pokemon, who issued a statement shortly after Palworld’s release saying, “we have not granted any permission for the use of Pokemon 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 the Pokemon.”
It’s worth noting that neither Nintendo nor The Pokemon Company have yet to name-drop Palworld specifically, but it’s pretty easy to read between the lines. With no updates, there’s also nothing to suggest Nintendo has even completed its apparent investigation into Palworld; this is just Pocketpair saying it has yet to hear a peep from the house of Mario.
In the same interview, the Palworld devs said they’re “still discussing” bringing the hit survival game to platforms like PlayStation, adding that a Nintendo Switch release looks unlikely due to “technical reasons”.
