Pokemon-Like Shooter Game Palworld Coming to Mobile, Despite Lawsuit

Palworld, a game widely referred to as “Pokemon with guns,” is coming to mobile. The game’s developer, Pocketpair, has signed a licensing agreement with PUBG: Battlegrounds publisher Krafton to bring the game to mobile devices.

Krafton said Wednesday that it plans to faithfully reinterpret Palworld in order to bring the original game to mobile platforms.

That means the mobile version of Palworld likely won’t be a 1-to-1 port of the console and PC versions of the game, so mobile players may have to wait a little while for it. Krafton didn’t give a timeframe for Palworld’s mobile release. 

This news comes days after Palworld launched on the PlayStation Store in most areas except Japan. Prior to the release on PlayStation, Palworld was available on Xbox and Steam.

This announcement comes amid a lawsuit from Nintendo and The Pokemon Company. The gaming giant wrote online that Palworld infringes on multiple patent rights; Pocketpair responded that it wasn’t aware of what patents it was accused of infringing upon. 

Palworld launched in early access in January, and The Pokemon Company said at the time it would “take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon.” Since then, Nintendo-centric YouTubers have made videos comparing the creature designs from each game to highlight their similarities. Other videos have compared creature designs between Pokemon and the even older game Dragon Quest, suggesting the Pokemon games might not be entirely original in their designs, either. 

It’s not clear how the lawsuit will affect development of the mobile version of Palworld.

For more mobile gaming news, here’s what to know about the mobile version of Balatro. You can also check out what games are available on Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus.

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