In January, shortly after the sensational ‘Palworld’ was released, Nintendo announced that it was investigating the game for any signs of plagiarism. Later, Nintendo’s president, Shuntaro Furukawa, said that the company would ‘take appropriate action’ if their IP had been infringed upon. Nintendo has long been known as a stalwart company where copyright issues are concerned, but it has been confirmed that six months after Palworld was released, Nintendo has yet to make an official complaint.
Perhaps It’s Fine
In many ways, Palworld was a flash in the pan. It blew up overnight, with millions of players flooding the game, which was being presented online as ‘Pokémon with guns’. In Palworld, players are charged with exploring a vast open world, collecting and upgrading ‘Pals’, crafting items, and building bases. It was a monumental success when it was released in January, soaring up the charts and prompting emergency meetings at Epic Games because it threatened to bring down the servers hosting it.
Despite Nintendo’s claims that it was launching an investigation into Palworld just days after it blew up, it seems as though nothing has come of it. Pocket Pair, the developer behind Palworld, confirmed recently that no complaints have been received and no legal proceedings have been kicked off, suggesting that all is well between Nintendo and Palworld.
Speaking to Game File’s Stephen Totilo, Takuro Mizobe, the head at Pocket Pair, said:
Nintendo and the Pokémon Company didn’t say anything to us. Of course I love Pokémon and respect it. I grew up with it, in my generation.
Palworld has suffered a fall from grace since dominating the charts six months ago. It hit an all-time peak player count of around 2.1 million users on Steam but now averages around 18,000 peak players per month. It has also dropped off entirely on streaming and content platforms – but that’s the lifecycle of most games.
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