By Zach Kershaw
Clouds of controversy surrounding newly released video games are typically bad for business. Yet, when Pocket Pair Incorporated released their latest title, “Pal World.”
The “Monster Taming” genre has been around for over three decades. Headlined by games such as Pokémon, Digimon, and Ark: Survival Evolved. This genre of video game has quite a large fanbase and following. Created by video game developer Pocket Pair Inc., Pal World is a survival game that involves catching, training, and fighting “pals’, which can be used by the player in many ways.
It did not take long for Pal World players, fans, and content creators to draw comparisons to other renowned franchises like Pokémon, Ark: Survival Evolved, and Minecraft. But, despite the comparisons, Pal World has soared to the top of the charts on PC and Xbox Game Pass. Pal World is unavailable on any other console or platform now.
According to the U.S. Copyright Office, “Copyright infringement occurs when a copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner.”
Notably, there are several Pals that bear similarities with Pokémon. Still, Pocket Pair Inc. CEO Takuro Mizobe maintained his position regarding the legality of Pal World during an interview with Automaton.
“We have absolutely no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property of other companies,” Mizobe said.
Despite Mizobe’s claims, fans have begun scrutinizing and comparing the models, design, and gameplay similarities between Pal World and Pokémon.
In the past, Nintendo has been unforgiving regarding copyright infringements on their intellectual property.
Former head of Nintendo’s legal team, Don McGowan, has handled situations like this before.
“This looks like the usual rip-off nonsense that I would see a thousand times a year,” McGowan said. “I’m just surprised that it got this far.”
Individuals entrenched in the Pokémon community are asking the same types of questions. Some even have compelling photos that showcase the stark similarities of style and design.
Commercially, Pal World’s success indicates that monster-taming fans have found something to play and enjoy with their friends. The graphics are high quality, and the gameplay is more likened to a survival game than anything else.