We Shouldn’t Care This Much About Pokemon Suing Palworld

Ever since Palworld launched to huge, if not acclaim, then at least to a huge playerbase, all anyone has been talking about is the likelihood of The Pokemon Company suing, and why they should or shouldn’t. It’s a complex legal issue compounded by the fact that for many people it’s also a highly emotional one, but now that Pokemon has announced plans to “investigate”, things are heating up.

First, let’s do a quick rundown of the story so far. Palworld has been marketed for years as ‘Pokemon with guns’, and launched last week to fulfil that promise. It had unexpected levels of record breaking success, and turned out to be more of a survival game with Pokemon elements than a straight Pokemon clone.

Possibly because of the edgy tone, or Palworld’s lack of visual identity, Pokemon fans were disproportionately upset about this ripoff, and a great debate ensued.

This debate revolves around how legal Palworld’s designs were, and was a debate participated in almost entirely by those with no legal training. On the one hand, encouraging Pokemon to sue emboldens other triple-A studios to be litigious against indie games at will. On the other, letting Palworld get away with such an egregious shovelware copy could blur the lines on stealing in game development.

This all culminated in the ‘smoking gun’ of Palworld’s Pal models matching Pokemon’s 3D meshes entirely, which would go a long way to proving assets were stolen, not just used for heavy inspiration. Only it was then revealed that this evidence may have been faked by manipulating models to ensure they matched up when they otherwise wouldn’t have. And of course, in the midst of all this, Palworld developers started receiving death threats.

It’s important to keep perspective here. Many Pokemon fans see Palworld as an insult to their intelligence, and an assault on their favourite gaming franchise that has offered them so much in life. Meanwhile, those who are tired of Nintendo’s cabal of super fans or those who have a distaste for Pokemon or the triple-A scene in general, see this as one in the eye for the big boys. It seems very few people actually care about the case or what it means, they have chosen their side (Palworld or Pokemon), and they will now root for that side like a sports team.

This means Pokemon’s investigation is being treated as lip service, or perhaps a scramble aimlessly in the dark, by Palworld fans who only want Pokemon to fail. Meanwhile, Pokemon fans are so convinced this is the death of Palworld they have started their victory lap. The fact is we have no idea. Pokemon could ‘investigate’ without informing the public, and this is likely a mix of appeasement for fans and scaremongering for Palworld.

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If it did go to court, we’ve seen PUBG fail in its lawsuit against Fortnite, where the whole concept was airlifted. Palworld uses Pokemon-like characters, but it’s more Ark and Fortnite than it is anything else. Of course, Pokemon’s investigation may well be focussed on whether the models themselves, rather than the game’s core idea, were stolen. If Pokemon feels it has a case there, it will be significantly more concrete than PUBG’s complaint.

But mostly, we just don’t know. And I don’t like the environment gaming has created where we find ourselves cheering on one team in a lawsuit, rather than letting it play out as observers. Pokemon may be about to sue Palworld, and that’s big news - but if your first emotion is happiness or sadness rather than interest, you’re probably too invested. Few of us know the law well enough to comment on each turn this case has taken and may well take, so if you’re only interested in hearing from your side, congrats: Pokemon/Palworld won the lawsuit (delete as appropriate).

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Palworld

WHERE TO PLAY

Palworld has been described as Pokemon with guns and well, it's hard to argue with that. The game is very similar in nature to the Pokemon formula, tasking you with catching and working with monsters called Pals. There are key differences, though. Palworld is rooted in multiplayer, oh, and, unlike Pokemon, its Pals have guns.