Palworld producer says ‘we have absolutely no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property of other companies’
Pokémon was referenced as a “great predecessor of its genre”
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The producer ofPalworldand CEO of developer Pocketpair, Takuro Mizobe, has reiterated that thePalworlddevelopers “have absolutely no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property of other companies.”
Right fromPalworld’s initial reveal, it was dubbed by the internet as ‘Pokémon with guns,’ and it’s not hard to see why. LikePokémon, players are able to capture cute and quirky creatures (known inPalworldas ‘Pals’). Monster-collecting mechanics in games always tend to lead toPokémoncomparisons, but, particularly sincePalworld’s launch, some people have criticized the designs of certain Pals, and have pointed out similarities to existingPokémondesigns.
In a newinterview with Automaton, Mizobe, who as well as serving as the game’s producer also “dabbled somewhat in direction,” was asked about concerns raised by prospective players who’d questioned if the game would even be able to launch. The outlet pointed out that the interview had been conducted on January 15, a few days prior toPalworld’s early-access release.
Mizobe acknowledged that he was “aware that thePokémonseries is the overwhelming leader in the monster-taming/collection genre,” and added that “Pokémonis so good that I’m afraid to even try to compare it toPalworld.” However, he said that the idea forPalworldoriginated from wanting to add monster-collecting mechanics to the open-world survival-crafting genre.
“Although we did reference thePokémonseries as a great predecessor of its genre,Palworldfeels completely different as a game, which I think people will realize as soon as they play it,” Mizobe stated. “I would even say thatPalworldis a lot more similar toArk: Survival Evolvedin terms of game mechanics.
“‘Will it be able to launch’ feels like a bit of an extreme question, but we make our games very seriously, and we have absolutely no intention of infringing upon the intellectual property of other companies,” he continued. “We have undergone legal reviews, and at this moment, there have been no specific actions taken by other companies. I know there have been all kinds of rumors floating about on the internet, but please rest assured and give our game a chance.”
Yesterday, Mizobe tweeted outasking that people stop sending threats and abuse toPalworld’s artists, stating that some had even received death threats.
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If you’re on the lookout for more games to play, be sure to check out our recommendations for thebest open-world games on PC, as well as thebest survival games.
Catherine is a News Writer for TechRadar Gaming. Armed with a journalism degree from The University of Sheffield, she was sucked into the games media industry after spending far too much time on her university newspaper writing about Pokémon and cool indie games, and realising that was a very cool job, actually. She previously spent 19 months working at GAMINGbible as a full-time journalist. She loves all things Nintendo, and will never stop talking about Xenoblade Chronicles.
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