Palworld's Meteoric Rise Draws A Veiled Legal Threat From The Pokemon Company

The Pokémon Company’s legal team is now looking into whether the smash hit Palworld might be committing any intellectual property infringements. The company states that “we intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon.” Up to this point The Pokémon Company has been quiet as Palworld has been racking up sales to quickly become a go to favorite for streamers on services such as Twitch.

During Palworld’s rise to the top of the Steam charts there have been a lot of questions on social media, and some downright accusations, about the liberties the game is taking regarding the designs of the monsters that inhabit the game world. Some social media users have even gone out of their way to tag Nintendo on posts and e-mail The Pokémon Company to try and make it aware of the supposed infringement taking place.


The announcement released by The Pokémon Company alludes to the fact that it is receiving messages from those social media users. The company says that “we have received many inquiries regarding another company’s game released in January 2024.” It’s highly unlikely that the company needed to be notified of Palworld’s existence, so this might be a way of letting users know that it’s not necessary to continue to inundate their inboxes.

It’s difficult to say where this goes next. While there are certainly similarities between the games, it’s hard to imagine Xbox paying to have Palworld on Game Pass without its lawyers giving it the OK. It's also important to note that while Palworld might be catching the gaming industry by surprise with its success, it's certainly not a game that came out of nowhere, with the reveal trailer appearing at Summer Game Fest 2023. So Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have had plenty of time to look at it and squash it before its release earlier this month.